The Wizard of Dusk
by everyJohn
Summary: When Regulus Black offers a live in tutoring job for Severus for the summer months, he accepts without much hesitation. Surviving in the heart of the prejudiced pure-blood society can be tricky and takes a lot of Slytherin cunning. The flames of the War hit closer than ever. In the middle of it all, two young and intelligent Slytherins form a strong comradeship.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi,**

 **I don´t own Harry Potter or any of the characters. They are all J. K. Rowling´s (Yes, she is the genius!). This story is, however, all mine. I´m not native in English and I apologize beforehand for any mistakes left in the text. I try to be careful.**

 **-EveryJohn**

Severus sat on the castle wall, feet hanging over the edge, and let the spring wind blow on his face. It was still cold even though summer was just around the corner. He looked down to the yard, where several students hang around in small groups of their friends. His jet-black eyes followed their talking, playing and studying. The exams were already over and they seemed relaxed and worry-free. It was hard to imagine that only in couple of days, all of the students would leave the castle grounds and return to their families to spend the summer with them. Severus frowned at that thought. He felt nervous and nauseous while even thinking about the upcoming holiday alone with his father at Spinners End.

It wasn´t the only thing worrying him. Rosier had once again asked him to join in Deatheaters. Severus knew that now there was more threat attached to the plea than ever before. Things had heated up with the upcoming war and Voldemort seemed to be on strong. Severus suspected that eventually it would be either for him or against him. He cursed his Slytherin character. A Gryffindor could recklessly brush off the offer without sparing a moment to think about the consequences. Severus reminded himself of the reasons that had made him refuse Rosier´s earlier requests. Most of those had actually something to do with Lily, the girl whom he had loved for a long time.

One year ago, Lily had cut off their friendship because of one wrong word at wrong time. He could only blame himself as the cursed word had come from his own lips. Lily had not looked back since then.

Lily was obviously very happy with Potter. Her smiles were nowadays so bright that it hurt Severus to even look at her. Every day, he heard whispers in Hogwarts corridors about, how she and her quidditch captain boyfriend made a perfect couple and guesses of how long it would take after the graduation for them to marry.

Severus was reluctant to take part in Voldemort´s powergame even when Lily was out of the equation but Rosier would take his refusal even more badly now that the teenage hormones couldn´t be blamed for the lack of his reason. Severus pushed his long slender fingers through his greasy black hair and gave an exhausted huff. He understood painfully well that he would not have the privilege of staying neutral for much longer. Influential pure-blood families could afford that, but he, a nasty halfblood Slytherin, without friends, family (except from one abusive muggle father, who had already drank himself halfway to grave) or powerful connections to protect himself... No, he would most likely be the first one to be trampled in a war of two massive forces. It would be plain stupid and naive to try to stay neutral. If the war was to come, joining to either side would be better than remaining impartial.

The question that still remained was: Dumbledore or Dark Lord? Most of the Slytherins would be supporting Voldemort. Most of the Gryffindors, including Lily and the Marauders would side with Dumbledore. Had Lily still been his friend, Severus would have followed the girl to which ever side she chose without hesitation, but she wasn´t. Lily didn´t need his protection or concern. She had Potter for that. Marauders hated him. Most of the Gryffindors were sure that he had already taken the Dark Mark and joined in Voldemort´s followers. They would not trust him. Dumbledore would probably take him in, because the old man knew how useful he could be with his cunning and broad skill set (not to speak of what secrets he might have heard in the Slytherin chambers), but the headmaster had also demonstrated that he didn´t see his pitiful life worthy of much. Severus shivered, when remembering the werewolf incident... To the headmaster it had been simply a prank gone wrong. Sirius Black had been thoughtless and James Potter was a hero for dragging him out in time. Remus Lupin was the victim and Severus himself... Severus was apparently to blame himself for being gullible enough to fall in Marauder´s death trap once again.

Then there was Dark Lord´s side. They, too, found his skills worthy of pursuing. They would want to keep him alive as long as he proved useful for them. Were there ever a moment, when they thought that his cost was more than his worth, they would, however, abandon him as easily as a broken toy. Severus did not lie to himself. He knew that he should not expect an ounce of loyalty from them. That side would set him to fight against Lily. Besides, he hated the idea of being branded and bonded to a master. But Voldemort was very influential and he had money. The man was famous for sponsoring young wizards, whom he thought worthy of it. Maybe Severus could get a grant to study potions under a potions master in some foreign country, if he played his cards right. ... Altough, it would be a terribly dangerous game to play.

/

"S-snape?"

He heard a quiet voice calling his name and refocused his attention to its direction. His eyes met a long but slender young man. The deep brown eyes of the boy looked rather large on his delicate face. Fine neatly comped hair that reached his shoulders was dark brown. Those two traits gave him slightly girlish impression. He squirmed queasily, while Severus measured him with his gaze. Severus knew the name of the boy. Regulus Black. That damned dog-face Sirius was his older brother. Severus hadn´t ever really talked with the boy and therefore all that he knew about him was that he was an year younger than him and also sorted in Slytherin. Younger Black gave an impression of being a polite and studious boy, who, unlike his brother, didn´t really stand out from the crowd. Blacks were one of the oldest and most respected pure-blood families in Britain. Therefore Regulus´s standing in house hierarchy was fairly good. At least, he didn´t get teased for his looks or for any other reason.

Now this young man, Regulus Black, looked at him, with genuine concern in his somewhat sad eyes.

"You should come back in, Snape. It´s dangerous over there", the boy requested timidly.

An unamused smile came to Severus´s thin lips as he realized, what it must have seemed like for the younger boy to find him alone, sitting on the edge of a life threatening fall. Everyone knew, that he had been depressed since Lily cut off their friendship.

"I´m not going to kill myself, Black. That would be too much servitude to Potter and your brother."

The younger boy cast his eyes down, avoiding Severus´s sharp stare. His ears turned red. Severus had thought that the boy would get the message and disappear, but instead he hovered and gave Severus pleading and slightly pained glances like a puppy wanting to poop. Severus shook his head to the image.

"What is it, Black? Don´t you have anything better to do than stare at someone being miserable? If you have something to say, say it fast and get lost."

Severus was quite sure that his words could in no way be interpreted as "Come closer and sit down for a chat, if you please", but the boy began to clumsily approach him. Severus instinctively held his breath while watching how the younger boy swayed dangerously as he stepped on the stones of the wall. When Regulus Black sat down next to Severus, he, however, did it gracefully and dignifiedly as should be expected from a noble pure-blood. Severus was reminded that Regulus Black was famous for always conducting himself well. Regulus never used foul language or rose his voice or acted rashly. That was actually something that Severus kind of respected in him. He was curious to hear, what the boy had in his mind.

"I was just thinking...", the boy said, gaze turned to his lap, "that... maybe if you want. I mean, I understand if you don´t, but I happened to hear... I wasn´t eavesdropping or anything. Just heard it accidentally... That you feel reluctant to return home for the summer."

Younger wizard cast him a nervous look and licked his lips.

"I just thought, I would offer you... If you happened to be interested... In Black mansion we have enough space. Since my brother left the house last summer there has been one bedroom completely unused... My parents don´t mind. I told them that you are brilliant in potions and they were thinking of hiring a tutor for me anyway. Of course, they would pay for you. And there is a huge library in the mansion. Many of the books can´t be found even here in Hogwarts. At least not in the common section."

"Am I imagining things, Black, or are you asking me, if I wanted to live with your family in the Black mansion as your potions tutor during the summer instead of going back to my drunkard father?"

The boy straightened his posture.

"Yes. But you don´t have to..."

"And your parents would pay for me?"

"Yes."

"And here I was thinking, from all that stuttering, that you were trying to ask me out", Severus mumbled with a faint smirk. Younger Black turned red as a beetroot.

"I assume that I would sleep in your insufferable older brother´s room, in his bed?" Severus confirmed.

Regulus nodded silently.

"That would be kind of disgusting, but just thinking of that stupid Gryffindor´s face, when he hears about it, makes up for that."

Regulus´s face lit up.

"So? Do you take up my offer?" He asked breathlessly.

Severus frowned and pretended to hesitate.

"There has to be a drawback, but I don´t seem to catch it..."

He shrugged his shoulders and grinned subtly as he stretched out his hand to Black.

"You may regret this, Black. I utilize Spartan methods in teaching. I don´t stand for any laziness or dunderheadness."

Severus said that but his black eyes twinkled with dry amusement.

Regulus beamed at him and shook the offered hand.

"It´s my pleasure, Snape. Or should I call you professor Snape, from now on?"

He seemed a little shocked by his own bravery to joke with the gloomy upperclassman.

Severus´s sly grin just widened.

"Professor Snape?" He tasted the words on his tongue. "I like the authoritative ring of it."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi!**

 **I´m very thankful for the reviews I got. From now on too, if I do some repeating mistakes be so good and correct me. I know, it can be very annoying. To see that someone enjoys my writing also pushed me to write more and post sooner. I really value it. This is a long chapter and I spent lots of time to get the personalities right. I really like this story I have in my head so I try to do as good work as possible in writing it down.**

 **-EveryJohn**

The platform 9 3/4th was full of happy parents and siblings who had been waiting for the arrival of the train. While the other children hurried to greet their loved ones, Severus was one of the last to descend from the Hogwarts Express. He put away the book he been reading during the travel and carefully straightened his back. He shaded his eyes from the sun and looked around the platform. Then he spotted a certain fifth year Slytherin and his parents standing away from the biggest crowd. Severus grabbed his luggage and began to clear his way towards the Blacks while ignoring the snares and yells he got from the other students.

/

Walburga Black would have been a beautiful woman, if it wasn´t for her unfriendly expression. Her yet black hair was tied high on a bun, which was decorated by an expensive looking hairpin with green emerald embeddings. Her black cloak was made from the most expensive materials and was brilliant handcraft. The little details in the cloak and it´s silk lining were exactly the same shade of green as the gemstones in her hair decoration.

"I have understood that you are a half blood and still sorted in Slytherin, mr. Snape? I suppose that your other qualities must compensate for your lesser blood, then." Walburga Black stated as she measured Severus with cold eyes. "Our son has told us that you are apparently very talented in potions." She snorted as if questioning the truthfulness of this credit. "Regulus´s career choice is to become a healer in St. Mungos´s. My son is, naturally, moderately skilled in potions already, but for this career choice he needs outstanding grades in upcoming N.E.W.T.s. Unfortunately, the potions master that headmaster Dumbledore hired is absolutely inadequate."

Mrs. Black leaned over her son and straightened his tie. Her husband, Orion, had greeted Severus quickly and almost immediately disappeared somewhere to discuss the recent politics with his acquaintances. Severus doubted that the man had even heard his name. Maybe he hadn´t needed to. The Blacks had obviously made a profound background check on him.

"I suppose that the ancient customs of proper wizarding families are completely foreign to you, Mr. Snape. You grew up with the muggles, I´ve been led to believe." She didn´t even rise her eyes and made it sound equal to being risen in pigsty. "As a tutor of our son you are to obey me and my husband in everything." He gave Severus a contemptuous look. "And just in case, I beg to remind that, even though, we have many beautiful and valuable possessions in our home we have also very convenient spells cast on many of them and those spells can unfortunately end up being deadly for those who attempt thievery..."

Severus had to grit his teeth with all his might not to say anything too provocative. "Thank you for the warning, Mrs. Black. Just in case.", he finally answered icily.

Walburga frowned her thin eyebrows. "I hope for you to remember that disrespectful behavior of any kind won´t be tolerated while you work in our family. I and Regulus´s father expect you to be thankful for this opportunity to make connections in pureblood society."

Severus resorted to a stiff bow as an answer.

"Those robes need to go. I won´t let you in my house in anything which obviously bustles with vermin. You are to have clothes that meet our standards. We, the noble and most ancient house of Black, can´t have a tutor that dresses like a house elf." Mrs. Black stated. She cast an openly hateful look to Severus´s worn out robes, which had, arguably, seen better days and were now a bit faded. Severus blushed and Mrs. Black smiled self-satisfiedly. Her good mood reached the tone of her voice when she continued: "We initially planned to stop by Diagon Alley today. We may as well visit madam Malkin´s on the way and get you something to wear, Mr. Snape. I will pay it, naturally."

Severus didn´t thank and neither did Mrs. Black seem to expect that.

"I expect you to have a complete list of ingredients and equipment you need for teaching. I also wish to remind you, that we, naturally, require notes and occasional displays of the progress of our son. We also expect you to turn in a complete curriculum for the summer months before the end of this week", Mrs. Black listed.

Regulus cast worried glances between Severus and his mother.

"But, of course, Mrs. Black!" Severus promised so happily, that Walburga Black´s smug expression turned suspicious. "Unfortunately I don´t have an actual list with me as I wasn´t expecting your request, Mrs. Black. But if you give me a moment and let me search for my quill, I will write it down for you."

When Severus correctly and shockingly easily listed the names and amounts of ingredients for nearly 50 different potions and even took into account that Regulus would inevitably waste some of the ingredients while learning, Mrs. Black had to grudgingly admit that the half blood boy at least knew his subject. Severus could hear her hiss and grit her teeth. Then she turned sharply towards her son and decidedly ignored Severus for the rest of the time.

"Regulus, dear, your father has once again disappeared. I will go look for him. When I find him, we will head straight to Diagon Alley, so don´t go anywhere from here, dear. I have Margot´s evening party to attend and therefore it is important that we are home early today." She looked behind her shoulders in hopes of catching a glimpse of his husband. Then she turned her delicate nose up and marched to search for him. Something in her posture indicated that Orion would be told off, when she finally found him.

/

There was a long silence between the boys.

"So what do you think about my parents?" Black blurted finally, when he couln´t stand it anymore.

Severus frowned and took his time to answer,

"I must admit that I´m impressed. Especially how your mother manages to be both perfectly polite and horribly rude at the same time. I didn´t see your father enough to say much about him. But... what I find it hard to believe, is that they were so impressed by my skills that they insisted on you to ask me for tutoring. If I didn´t know better I would think that your mother is devastated by a mere thought that the precious heir of Black family is to be tutored by a filthy half blood."

Regulus squirmed under Severus´s piercing gaze.

"I told them that you are the best one around. I know that they can be prejudiced and well... judgmental", he murmured.

"Oh, don´t take me wrong. I´m sure I couldn´t have better employers. I get to teach the very subject I like most, they will let me live in a mansion and I even get paid..."

Suddenly Severus looked Regulus with suspicion.

"I suppose that they are still going to pay for me?" He confirmed.

"Their dignity wouldn´t allow otherwise", Regulus hurried to assure.

"It´s not all bad then", Severus concluded grimly.

/

Boys didn´t get to be alone for a long time before, Regulus´s father, Orion Black, approached them with long strides. He looked quickly around himself as if to make sure that his wife wasn´t with them. Then he offered them a lopsided grin that reminded Severus eerily of the man´s older son.

"Hi, boys. I got stuck. Old friends and all, ha ha... Where is Walburga? I thought she was in hurry, because of that evening party of hers. What was her friend´s name again? Margheta? Margarita?" Orion shrugged his shoulders boyishly to show that he didn´t really care about the name.

Severus noticed that Mr. Black´s eyes were brilliant blue, whereas both of his sons had inherited their mother´s dark eyecolor. All in all, Mr. Black was a handsome man. He also seemed to pay much attention to his looks. His curly dark hair was long enough to reach the shoulders and, even though it looked like it had been just casually cast back, Severus´s keen eyes could detect traces of expensive charms keeping every wisp perfectly on it´s place. Mr. Black´s neat black mustache was, if possible, even more carefully maintained than his hair, shining from the finest products on the market. Even his outfit was extravagant consisting of green tartan robes, black shirt, dark purple satin west and carmine red silk neckerchief. He was also wearing a detailed pair of dragonhide boots, which were rumored to be the latest fashion trend among wizards with too much money.

When he got closer, Severus noted that he reeked strongly of a certain perfume. Putting a label on the product was easy for someone trained to differentiate potions by smell. Severus was aware that many middle class witches wore this particular scent nowadays. What he doubted, though, was that it was Walburga Black´s style...

"You are the famous half blood Slytherin, that Regulus has told to us about. Splendidly pleasant to meet you! Your name was... S... hmm... Sem... Stephenus Snark, wasn´t it?" Orion Black flicked his fingers. He looked very satisfied of himself and obviously thought that he had recalled the name correctly. He stretched out his hand to Severus and smiled disarmingly. "Our Regulus has talked about you a lot, Stephenus. He says that your potions skills are a way above your age. I was wondering, if you could provide some potions for me during the summer in side of the tutoring? I must admit that potions was never my strongest subject in school. Truth to speak, I was always more interested in teasing beautiful witches during the school lessons and by doing that probably caused many grey hairs to my potions master then. I would of course pay for the ingredients and work."

The man´s overly friendly manner only installed mistrust in Severus. He couldn´t imagine liking anyone, who thought that fooling around during the potions making process was a good idea and even worse, worth bragging. Besides, Mr. Black´s gestures reminded him too vividly of Sirius Black and therefore provoked immediate dislike.

Severus griped the man´s offered hand, but instead of commenting his request in any way, he murmured two words in a low voice. "Seductive Duchess..." Mr. Black startled, even though, he tried hide it in a confused smile. Severus grinned inside, but was careful not to show it on his face. "I meant the name of the scent, that you are wearing. It´s curious..." he explained silkily and looked Mr. Black straight to the eyes. Without even noticing it, Mr. Black gulped. "I thought only witches wore it. I never thought that it may suit a wizard as well", Severus marveled innocently.

Poor Mr. Black stared the young man in front of him with suspicion and uncertainty, but nothing on Severus face revealed that there was an intentional thorn in his words. Mr. Black didn´t know, what to do and eventually he gave out a forced laugh.

"ha ha... You are funny lad, Seamus... Such a joke... Ha-ha", he blabbered and was about to pat Severus´shoulder, but then he suddenly fell silent. His wife had spotted them and was now closing the distance.

/

Several hours later Severus threw himself on the bed in the room that the Blacks had prepared to him. To Sirius Black´s bed apparently. He hadn´t even lit the lights so the room was pleasantly dark and quiet. The bed was comfortable and the sheets smelled clean. Not so bad for something that had once belonged to Sirius Black.

He was exhausted. He had always been a loner and avoided crowds when possible. Meaningless chatter of fellow students in the middle of lessons already made his head pound. Crowded areas such as Diagon Alley were basically a hell. So many people. So many emotions. He had to be cautious of everyone. Keep up his defenses. Be aware of everything before it even happened.

They had gotten the essential potions ingredients, though. And he had gotten new ropes, which was nice, Severus admitted. On the negative side, Black´s mother had been insufferable. Walburga had gone to every store assistant and unsuspecting passerby and told them to be understanding of the ways of the dirty half blood, that they had with them today because he was new to magical world and didn´t know any better. She had elegantly nodded her aristocratic head to them and proudly announced that as true nobility of wizarding world it was the duty of Black´s family to provide for the more unfortunate.

Severus grit his teeth during that shopping so much that any dentist would have worried for him. He refused to let out even one sarcastic comment. He knew well that, what Walburga spouted wasn´t true. This wasn´t charity. He was capable of tutoring potions. Severus had faith in his abilities on that field and he swore to work for every knut he got from the vicious woman. Walburga Black could go around telling whatever she wanted, but Severus knew that he had paid every coin with his sweat and devotion

/

"Severus... Can I come in?"

"No."

"Are you sleeping?"

"Yes. And not only sleeping but also sleep talking. Why even bother asking?"

Black chuckled nervously.

"For the politeness?" He suggested.

It was too dark to see, but Severus had creeping suspicion that he was laughing.

"Should I tell you, what to do with your politeness ...", he spit,"But then again, my vocabulary wouldn´t probably be fitting for your delicate pureblood ears."

"I understand that Walburga can be kind of oppressive", Regulus admitted choosing his words carefully.

Severus snorted.

"So what do you want? Tell it, so I can get rid of you that much sooner."

Severus heard Regulus lurk in. The bed creaked and he could feel someone sitting down next to him. The sheets rustled a little.

Regulus needed some time to begin and Severus didn´t pressure him.

"Do you believe in blood supremasy", Regulus finally huffed.

Severus couldn´t help wrenching an eyebrow. That had been kind of... unexpected. Why would Regulus Black ask him that? (On the other hand, it was kind of nice that he bothered to ask compared to rest of the school, who claimed to know without confirming.)

"The blood supremacy according to which pureblooded wizards are superior to all others? And in all known ways?" He scoffed. "Wouldn´t that mean that Valentin Crabbe and Graham Goyle are above me, Black? They are pure bloods." He let that sunk in. Those two seventh year students were stupid as trolls and according to the rumors they had graduated only by powerful connections after having flunked most of the subjects. "Besides, not even that dunce Potter could beat muggleborn Evans in the charms exams. Evidence seems to point somewhere else..."

The younger boy seemed to accept his worlds and pondered them. "Some people say that muggleborns, who do well, have stolen their magic from pureblood children."

Severus snorted again. "Yes. And they must have stolen Crabbe´s and Goyle´s brain too when they were at it", he confirmed sarcastically. Regulus gave a quiet laugh. Severus´ words seemed to cheer him up for some reason.

"But if you asked me, whether or not wizards and witches should marry muggles, I think no. Too much suffering results from that", Severus continued, not knowing, why he said it.

Regulus was silent for a while.

Then he asked in very careful way: "So your father and mother... I mean... Which one of your parents is muggle?"

"Father. The drunkard", Severus answered bitterly. "But my mother, while she lived, wasn´t any better. She was evil and bitter woman. More so than my father. Sometimes I actually think, that without her and me, Tobias might have turned out quite okay."

Now he really didn´t know what had come to him. Why he said things he had never said to anyone to Regulus Black of all people. Maybe it was the darkness that made the situation strangely intimate but also allowed him to lower at least some of his usual shields, because there was no way they could see each other´s faces. Or maybe it was because he sensed Regulus´ honesty. When you have been lied to all your life and have had to lie to everyone all the time no matter where or with whom you are, honesty was something that caught you out of guard.

They spent time in silence. Then Black uttered:

"Walburga is quite nasty too, but I think my father would be worse off without her."

"He cheats on your mother", Severus stated.

"You found out so soon? Walburga is going to be furious, when she realizes", Regulus mumbled gloomily, but didn´t deny it.

"How can she stand it?"

Regulus shrugged.

"She doesn´t, but what can she do? She pretends that she doesn´t know. As long as it´s not an open secret, Walburga will play perfectly happy noble family and take all evidence of anything else to grave with her. It would go against her pride to hold on a man, whose heart is somewhere else. Besides, she could never love anyone as much as she loves power and status."

Severus though about it and decided that he could very well believe that about Walburga Black.

"What about your father. Doesn´t he want to be officially with that Seductive Duchess of his? I assume, that they are in love?"

Cynical laughter, that burst out from young Black´s mouth seemed unnatural for him.

"Love? That man doesn´t love anyone but himself! In addition to Seductive Duchess -woman, he has at least five other witches and at least one muggle woman on top of that. Talk about blood supremacy! Talk about pure blood honor! He doesn´t care, who they are as long as they keep flattering him. I´m quite sure that he married Walburga only because someone accidentally let out that they would make a most beautiful couple. That man jumps to anything that boosts his ridiculous self worship. Good for him and good for the Black family, though. Without Walburga he would have already gambled the manor. Only good thing about him is that he is a coward. He would never stand against my mother."

Severus was surprised to hear Regulus talk that much and with such emotion. Darkness seemed to lower his inhibitions too. He heard the younger boy take muffled breaths trying to calm himself down.

"Why don´t you leave then, like your brother did?" Severus let out, before he could stop himself.

Regulus gave a resigned sigh. He mumbled downwards barely audibly: "They are still my family..."

Severus patted the younger boy´s shoulder sloppily. The need to comfort others was almost foreign for him.

"It´s most surprising..." he muttered, " that such an insufferable combo managed to get even one sensible offspring." (He didn´t need to clarify which one he meant, Regulus or Sirius.)

After a moment of silence Black began to giggle softly and soon it grew into hearty laughter. Severus felt something surprisingly warm twinkle inside himself. His lips curved in secrecy and he smiled in darkness. This must be what it feels like to have a little brother, he wondered. He had always known that Sirius was an idiot, but to cast his own brother away... Well, maybe it wasn´t that big deal to someone, who was used to hang around three extremely close friends, but Severus, who had never had anyone except from the time when he had Lily for a brief while, knew a dunderhead when he saw one. And Sirius certainly was one. He had already taken the bastard´s bed, if he took even his little brother, how furious would Sirius be then?


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi!**

 **In the story Severus isn´t yet of age and that´s why they have made some preparations that would allow safe brewing without the use of wands (I´m sure such stuff is sold somewhere in Diagon Alley...).**

 **I hope you like this. And even if you don´t, be nice and give me some pointers :)**

 **-everyJohn**

Dull day light managed to shine to the room through a gap between heavy curtains. It cast interesting shadows on the ornamental wall papers of the Grimmauld place number 12. Tall mahogany cupboards and bookshelves held slightly grotesque statues depicting magical creatures and hundreds and thousands of perfectly organized books. In every room, hanging from the ceiling, were big glimmering crystal chandeliers. Beautiful white and red cut roses were placed in vases on dressers. Huge perfectly polished mirrors stood in every corner so that a person unfamiliar with the house would hit his head to them many times in a day while trying to move around in hurry. All in all, everything in the mansion was so perfectly in place that any movement in anything would stand out like a screaming flaw.

In the dining room Walburga Black sat alone at the set table listening the slow ticking of an old tall-case clock. At times, she cast curious glances to the door, which led to the basement of the building. During the past week her son had spent hours and hours there alone with his young tutor. Brilliant lights occasionally flashed through the door frames and sometimes she got a foul smell of smoke to her nose. She had also heard loud bangs followed by brutal swearing of Mr. Snape.

When one of the loudest bangs today was followed by a crashing sound, Mrs. Black was already half way up. Then she, however, gave a frustrated sigh and sat down again. Her husband had disappeared early in the morning. To meet his "friends", he had said. To make matters worse Mr. Snape had made her and her husband promise that they would in no occasion interrupt the study sessions. Mr. Snape had calmly explained that by breaking that rule Mr and Mrs. Black would endanger both their own and their sons lives. Walburga felt defiant, but did not dare to ignore warning, after all.

The clock turned already to dinner time and the flashing and swearing had not shown any signs of ceasing. Walburga turned to the family house elf, Kreacher, and urged it to go and take a look in her stead.

/

"You utterly confuse me, Black! You seem to be doing fair well until I come to check the progress and then you suddenly blow it up like a FIRST YEAR DUNDERHEAD!" Severus yelled through the bitter smoke that filled the room. He fumbled through the floor to activate the ventilation system and managed to hit his toe into one of the cauldrons Black´s parents had bought to him.

The Blacks seemed to have this great mission of emptying the stocks of Potage's Cauldron Shop. Because of that the basement was now well equipped for a private brewing place. Actually far too well equipped, which made Severus both amused and furious at the same time. Nearly twenty different kinds of cauldrons of every size and color imaginable served only one function in Hogwarts level potion making and that was: Taking space. (His bounding big toe confirmed that argument true.) It was kind of insulting, how much money the Blacks used on this. All his life, despite the hard work and passion he had put into it nothing had come to Severus that easily. He had barely owned one pewter cauldron from first school year and had cherished it properly until Potter and his crew managed to permanently spoil it. During the following summer he had worked like crazy doing stupid muggle delivery summer job to earn enough to buy a new one for the next semester. He owned a pair of dragon hide protective gloves (school regulation required them), but didn´t dare to use them except from while dealing with truly dangerous potions in fear of breaking or dirtying them. And Regulus Black had gotten three brand new pairs of protective gloves from his parents just for the summer tutoring! If making potions was only about equipment, Walburga and Orion would have made sure that their son had mastered it already in age of eleven. Too bad for them... As surely as trolls stink, Regulus would need all the help Severus could provide to somehow survive the upcoming N.E.W.T.-courses in school. His skills in potions were simply abysmal, which was hard to understand as Regulus wasn´t even all that dimwitted.

"Are you doing this on purpose to piss me off?" Severus hissed with suspicion as he hovered over the younger Slytherin. The shining silver cauldron, which Regulus had been working with, was now black as charcoal and had a huge hole burned through its bottom. This was already the third time during this week that something like this had happened.

Regulus didn´t get a word of defense out from his mouth. The pale boy avoided Severus´s eyes and seemed to shrink in front of him. Such open submissiveness made his tutor even angrier. "Thank Merlin for having rich parents, Black. If you were my student at Hogwarts, I would throw you out. Permanently! For destroying school property and endangering your schoolmates and teacher!"

Black didn´t deny it. His brown eyes were still wide from shock of the explosion and Severus had a feeling that he hardly recognized what he was saying. "You amaze me time after time with your stupidity, Black! From where you picked up this genius idea to drop the mistletoe in before the liquid is fully saturated? I even specifically reminded you about it. Have muggles stolen your brain too, Black? Is that an epidemic now?" Severus spit that out, voice full of venom. He didn´t intend to stop there, but his venting was cut short by a blood chilling battle cry. A furious house elf leaped through the air and a second later, two rows of razor sharp elf teeth sunk deep into Severus´s ankle making him howl from pain and horror.

"You filthy half-blood! You is not worthy of my master! You ugly, unruly, filthy! You dare to shout to my master! You dare to scare and insult my dear dear master! You bad man! Be gone! BE GONE!" The house elf shrieked. Regulus had to hold the wiggling and cussing creature with both hands to keep it from lunging on Severus, who was just beginning to comprehend the situation.

Severus´s black eyes flashed dangerously. "Who, exactly, are you calling ugly, you smelly, wrinkled, dishcloth!" he hollered.

"At least me does not look like someone has held my head in sewage for months!" The elf shot back.

Severus´s hands trembled with anger and inched towards the wand in his pocket.

The elf´s eyes glittered with triumph as it took a fighting stance.

"STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!" Regulus screamed. He had finally gotten his voice back and stood now in between the wizard and the house elf, looking a bit faint.

"But master, he was rude to you..." Kreacher tried, blinking its big, watery, house elf eyes and wigging anxiously its long ears. Severus concluded to his disgust, that the little bastard was trying to appeal cute.

"Severus was not bullying me, Kreacher! Truly", Regulus assured the house elf. He looked really uncomfortable, but continued nevertheless: "Severus had a good reason to get mad at me. I, um... made a stupid mistake." He blushed through his ears. "I could have severely damaged the house. Severus used a neutralizer and vanished the potion barely in time."

The loyal house elf tried to comfort Regulus by tapping his robe hem gently. It squeaked with really compassionate voice: "It´s no master´s fault. Master is learning. Half-blood should have reminded master."

Severus snorted.

The house elf turned to him and opened its mouth flashing its threatening set of teeth to him.

Severus rolled his eyes to the gesture and only Regulus´s interference kept the elf from retaliating.

The miffed creature cast one more dark glare to Severus before slouching towards the door. "Lady Black want´s to inform you two: Dinner is ready", Kreacher informed with sour expression as it pressed the door handle.

The opened the door revealed the said lady, eavesdropping behind it. "What are you ogling!" Severus snapped and slammed the door to her nose, before she could say anything.

Regulus and Severus were left in death silence.


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter gave me some grey hair... :) I hope that the mood swings and all, aren´t too much. I kind of wanted to deliver how young Severus would act if someone seriously tried to treat him well. He would put any wannabe friend through hell and high water before even considering accepting them. Poor Regulus... Severus isn´t easy to handle. But he has a heart there somewhere deep inside. A hurt heart. **

**everyJohn**

"What?" Severus snarled to Black, when the silence grew too heavy.

He put too much weight on his wounded left leg and almost collapsed. "Severus, let me take a look at it", Black pleaded. Severus decided that he had neither time nor energy for Black´s whining right now and simply ignored the boy.

Severus closed his eyes and deliberately cleared his mind. Next, he put two cauldrons over fire and began brewing in very fast pace. It was like a second nature to him. While brewing all his thoughts focused on the process and everything else seemed to lose its importance and fade away. He didn´t need to stop thinking his steps beforehand like he had just hammered to Black´s head to always do. His muscles and fingertips were so accustomed to cutting and crushing that he automatically produced the ginseng root slices in exactly right thickness. Severus checked the right cooking time from the rate of evaporation instead of a clock and adjusted the fire absent-mindedly. He actually performed in every way against his own teachings.

Severus had always liked brewing. Not many of his school mates had the patience or precision needed in the subject. Any wandering thoughts in potion making had usually abysmal consequences. Severus himself liked the way how a complicated brewing process took all of his concentration. There was something meditative in the lazy way that bubbles formed in a simmering cauldron. He was good in it. His long white fingers moved so fast that they blurred. Every step, every single move was always perfectly timed. It was like a complicated and hypnotic dance. Or like a challenging puzzle to solve. Feeling of accomplishment warmed his heart every time he succeeded.

His breathing was getting kind of labored. Sweat drops were beginning to form on his forehead. They were getting in the way of his sight. That could have been from the heat of the room. He was working in very fast pace with two steaming cauldrons, after all. But he didn´t feel warm. More like cold shivers. His head also pounded and eyes stung in a feverish way which didn´t bode well.

Severus crouched to turn the fire off. While standing up again the world almost blackened. He dropped immediately on a stool and drew a deep breath through his teeth holding a hand on his clammy forehead. In the corner of his eye, he saw Regulus to hurry to his side.

The boy could not contain his words anymore. "You can´t just let it be, Severus. I´ve heard that house elf bites can instill curses that are difficult to remove. That is especially true in their master´s house when they fight for their master." Severus glared darkly the bloody hem of his robe. "I know that much myself, Black. Or did you think I brewed these potions for fun?" He took a sharp breath and grit his teeth as the pain in the leg flared. "Those... wrinkled dishcloths... are bloody dangerous creatures ...Have even killed some wizards", he groaned. To further press his words the he held up the robe hem revealing his now all but beautiful leg underneath it. The skin around the bite mark was dark and swelled. It seemed like the wound was pulsating as the damaged area slowly widened with every heart beat of Severus´s.

Severus applied the lotion that he had just brewed carefully to the bite. After a moment, some steam came out accompanied by a hissing sound. It stung like crazy and Severus twitched but didn´t let out even smallest sound. At first, the steam that came out from the wound was pitch black, but it slowly got clearer until the color eventually changed to pure white. Severus let out a breath he had been holding in and deflated like punctured balloon as the tension left his muscles.

Next, Severus gulped down the bluish tincture he had brewed at the same time with the lotion. It was his own version of recovery potion. Severus snorted to its taste and swiped his mouth clean. He held his hand above the open wound and muttered an incantation.

Severus smirked to himself, when he noticed Regulus´s awestruck expression. Wandless magic was considered both advanced and unreliable. Healing was generally seen as one of the most difficult branches of magic, but not many knew that it was one of the easiest to handle wandlessly. Not that he was an expert of it... Truth to be told his mother´s wand, which was the only one he had ever had, barely agreed with him at all. The detailed wand work such as charms and transfiguration had proven to be very difficult to do with it. Marauders had, of course, taken notice to this and it had soon become a running joke that he was only good in potions, because his skills in magic were so lacking. Severus felt like he had to curse Potter and his grew occasionally just to remind them of the fault in their thinking. He was very adept in curses and dark arts too. For some reason, his wand worked exceptionally well in the instances he tried to do them.

The jump from ill working wand to no wand at all had not seemed to Severus that big of a leap. There was also a heap of advantages in wandless magic. For example, Ministry of Magic could not regulate it like it could regulate the underage use of wands. As long as Severus stayed in one of the magic populated areas he could safely use any wandless spells without the fear of getting caught. This was one of the reasons Severus had initially began to practice it.

/

After taking the recovery potion Severus felt considerably better and was ready meet Regulus´s angry glare. "Why didn´t you tell me, how bad it was, Severus?" were boy´s first words. "If you just told me what you needed, I could have brought it to you!" he claimed. Severus inched an eyebrow. "We have a good supply of healing potions in the family´s medicine cabinet. You didn´t need to brew it yourself! My mother could have easily performed that first aid charm you attempted wandlessly. And we should have asked her to floo call st. Mungo´s as a safety measure! " Black continued more angrily than Severus had thought possible for the mild tempered boy. His cheeks burned red from agitation. Severus scowled at him. "Get it to your head, Black that I´m your tutor not your family member. Why would I need from you something that I can very well brew myself?" Severus saw from Black´s expression that the boy was about to insist against it. He gave an exasperated sigh and proceeded to explain: "I don´t intend to get indebted to your family. I work here for this one summer, I get paid and then its over." After a short consideration he added: "And why in the name of Merlin would I want half of the wizarding word to know, that I ended up to st. Mungo´s for a stupid house elf bite!"

Severus turned away from Black and began to clean after the brewing. After a while Black calmed down. "I just wanted to help you, Severus. You were in terrible pain and... I didn´t know what to do", the boy muttered as an attempt of peace. Severus turned to him feeling irritated by his naivety. He looked him straight to eyes. "Of course, I was in pain", he seethed. "Do you think, it was the first time in my life? Do not be ridiculous, Black. Pain doesn´t kill people. And considerable amount is needed to even drive one insane."

/

"Dinner has been served for a long while! What kind of halfblood disrespect it is to let others wait?" Mrs. Black´s high pitched voice called from the dining room. It served to shake both boys out from their glaring match. "If you don´t sit around the table immediately, you can as well be without any!" While Regulus turned to answer, Severus collected the rest of the lotion into a small bottle with one smooth movement and charged to the stairs. He didn´t head to the kitchen but to other stairs that led upstairs. "Where are you going, Severus?" Regulus yelled after him.

/

Severus dropped heavily on his bed. Regulus´s hurried steps rang in the stairway, but he didn´t pay attention to it except casting a wandless locking spell to the door.

Teaching was much harder than he had anticipated. He knew the subject inside out. Much better than Slughorn, the actual teacher of the subject. He was sure of that, but it didn´t seem to guarantee success. Severus admitted to himself that Black could not possibly be completely useless in the subject. He had been accepted in the N.E.W.T. -courses, after all. Yet, every time Severus got closer to inspect his progress or to make suggestions the boy seemed to turn into blundering mess. Severus couldn´t stand blundering messes in his potions laboratory.

Severus tugged his black hair feeling immensely annoyed. He had no clue, what to do differently. He remembered, that Travers had once complained that he was too stern and "freaking scary" when he was advicing the boy in homework. Severus didn´t think that the fault should be his. Travers had asked his help, when he was deathly tired from upcoming O.W.L. s. He should have been grateful for the time he spared.

It couldn´t be because of that, Severus decided. The heir of the noble and most ancient house of Black could not be quite that spineless, could he? And he had even tried to tune himself down.

/

"Open the door! Open it, Severus. Please..."

Regulus Black kept whining at the door of his room. Wait, from the voice of it, Sirius Black´s younger brother was almost... in tears? Severus popped up from the bed. He rushed to the door. If that was true, he had to witness it first hand.

In all the rush the door hit heavily to younger boy´s chin.

Both boys looked at each other in silence, shocked expressions on their faces. One of them was holding his red and swelling chin.

"Are you alright?"

It was not Severus who asked that and that was so backwards that Severus wondered for a moment whether Regulus was making fun of him. He coughed trying to clear his throat. Before he could answer, Regulus was already furiously checking the bite mark in his leg. Severus shut his mouth and peeked the crouching boy in silence.

Finally, Regulus huffed in relief. "Your antidote has worked perfectly! Thank Merlin... When you didn´t answer to me, I almost feared that you had fainted." The younger boy cast an accusing look to Severus. "Why did you run away?"

"I didn´t run away..." Severus denied feebly. For some reason he felt guilty. "I just needed... some time alone."

"So..." Severus said trying to be casual, "What now...?" He turned to the luggage that he hadn´t had energy to unpack. (What was the point any way? Blacks had ensured that he had everything in brand new). Severus avoided eye contact with Black and searched lazily through his things not even knowing, what he expected to find.

"Walburga banned us from dinner", Regulus told him grimly.

"That is unfortunate..." Severus muttered.

Regulus´stomach grumped loudly.

"It´s your fault, that I´m hungry", Regulus blamed.

"I feel ashamed of myself."

Regulus cast him a scrutinizing look with his always serious, brown, eyes.

"That must have been... sarcasm", he deduced.

Severus rolled his eyes. Then his own stomach started making noise. If Severus had been a person to blush, that would have been the moment.

"Any suggestions?" Regulus smirked.

"You could convince the house elf to give us something?"

"No way. Kreacher thinks that my mother is his queen. It considers me merely as a child."

Severus pondered for a moment.

"I could maybe brew a nourishing potion", he suggested weakly.

"Is that the one who is rumored to taste like p..."

"Pixie droppings?"

Regulus nodded.

"Merely one of the ingredients. Striking taste of troll sweat covers it completely. Highly effective potion. One spoonful... and you don´t need to eat anything for days (neither would you want to)", Severus informed dryly.

Regulus began to look greenish. "No, thank you", he muttered quickly.

"Then..." Severus dragged the word. He turned to face Black. He weighted the purse where he kept muggle money in his hands and tried to remember, how much money it contained. He knew, that he had left some for the return journey to Cokeworth. "...we could probably sneak to muggle London and grab something to eat?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi!**

 **The friendship between Lily and Severus started, when Severus introduced muggle born Lily to the wizarding word. I think that his superior knowledge of magic must have been very important to Severus´s self confidence. Even though he was poor, clumsy and awkward, at least he had something that Lily admired and needed.** **Now that Severus is older things are very different but I thought that it would be interesting, if Regulus´s and Severus´s friendships started in a way that mirrored his friendship with Lily. This time, I made Severus to introduce pure blood Regulus to the muggle world. (I also found it hilarious that the same proud pure bloods, who are so determined to completely separate themselves from anything muggle, would find themselves very helpless if suddenly brought into muggle world.** **It would be nice to hear, what you think of it :)**

 **To tell the truth, I would have liked to bring more seventies vibes into this chapter, but I´m not British and haven´t even lived in 70´s so I have to admit that it was too difficult for me.**

 **EveryJohn**

It was already dark when they got out. Rhythmic muggle music carried from open bars and clubs which lured customer in with neon light signs. Young people walked on the streets in pairs and bigger groups chatting and laughing annoyingly loudly. Severus crouched to himself feeling out of place and was comforted slightly only by the thought that the young pure blood next to him felt that even more than him.

"I should have dressed better, shouldn´t I? These trousers look kind of weird... You really think, that I don´t need robes?" Regulus whispered. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a jumper that they had nicked from his father´s huge wardrobe. "Do you see anyone, wearing robes?" Severus pointed out dryly. "Those are great, Black. That´s what muggles think is fashionable right now."

Regulus didn´t look convinced. He sulkily tugged the jeans. "I don´t even like fish all that much... Are you sure that they will be open this late?" Severus was about tell him that he could very well march straight back home, if he wished so. Before he could say anything, he, however, had to pull the young wizard safe from a passing car. Regulus´s eyes brightened with interest, when he saw the blue Ford Escort. "I know what that is. Muggles use these for transport, right? I read about it in school. Auto... Automobile! It uses... gas... gas... gazellene." This elated announcement was met by angry honking, but Black only smiled confusedly back and waved his hand to the driver.

Severus groaned inwardly. He had a strong hunch that this simple trip to outer world would improve Regulus´ muggle studies much more than a whole summer of potions tutoring could do for skills in that subject.

/

After walking around for almost an hour, they finally found a rundown food stall. It was apparently called Fredrica´s Fish and Chips. (The paint in the sign had began to crumble and as a result some of the letters had almost vanished.) It didn´t give out a very sanitary vibe but when the mouthwatering smell of deep-frying hit Severus´s nose, he decided that they were too hungry to care .

"Stay on the bench, Black. And don´t talk to anyone", Severus commanded and pointed towards the playground next to the stall and a bench over there. He was reluctant to leave Black alone but didn´t want to bring him to the stall either in fear that he would somehow make it obvious that they were wizards. "I will be back soon", he promised. Black trotted obediently to the bench. Before turning away Severus saw him exploring the slide excitedly like a fascinated four-year-old.

/

To the honor of Regulus it must be said that he had been sitting exactly where Severus had left him until a woman with a beer can appeared and sat on a swing.

She kicked off her high heels and pushed the sand with her bare feet. Then she began to slowly sway back and forth while drinking her beer. She soon spotted Regulus´s curious glances and began to steal looks at him herself. A little later, she stood up and walked to the same bench as him and sat down right next to him.

"I saw you looking", She stated and flashed a smile. Regulus blushed slightly. "Oh, my! You´re so frigging cute!" she giggled. "I´m Laura, by the way. Who are you? Your first time around here, hmm?" She offered her hand and Regulus took it as that seemed to be expected. She was older than him and her irregular lifestyle and heavy make up made her look even older than she actually was. She, however, had outgoing personality and oddly alluring wide smile.

Regulus mumbled his name. (Severus had forbidden him from talking to anyone, but, on the other hand, Walburga had always enforced the importance of polite manners.) He straightened his back and said awkwardly: "Yes, this is my first time here as you correctly guessed. We came for food. I must say, that this place is... very unique."

She looked at him emptily and then around the playground and then the food stall. She frowned. Her expression, however, brightened soon and she chuckled. "You´re joking, right?" She suddenly leaned towards Regulus and lowered her voice to purr. "Hey, you know what, Regulus. Do you want to have something... much more delicious at my place?" She wrapped her hand suggestively around his neck and gave him a coy look through her long eyelashes.

Regulus didn´t know what to do. "Something better...?" he stuttered, "But my friend just went to get us something. I... I promised to wait for him here. But... um, maybe we could come with you later. I mean, if you don´t mind him joining?"

"Are you into threesome?" The girl huffed surprised.

"I... I-is that... food?" Regulus asked but had an ominous feeling that his guess was wrong.

The girl laughed. Then she touched his cheek affectionately with her forefinger and giggled at his shocked expression. "You know, you are a bit dumb, Regulus. But real cute so I don´t mind at all."

/

Severus found Black by following the noise coming from the nearby car park. He considered for a moment to turn on his heels and continue his search in completely different direction. (Too bad that Walburga Black would have had his head for that...) Seriously. Leave a noble pure blood alone in the muggle word for a goddamn fifteen minutes and this is what you get!

A muggle male, who looked big enough to be one-quarter giant held Black from the collar and his goons enjoyed the show from their motorbikes. A stupid looking wide mouthed woman, who was obviously drunken, fussed around like a headless chicken. Severus heard her sobbing how she didn´t know Regulus at all and that they had just talked a bit and the man should just release the poor boy. The man, however, was already heaving his fist to land the first punch.

Severus sighed. He held the warm paper bag full of food to his chest and closed his eyes. Then he opened them. "For the sake of my salary... would you fancy any help there, Black?" he asked with low, alarmingly soft tone startling everyone with his presence.

The muggle that was about to mutilate Black turned his wide face to him and was about to say something (probably along the lines: Go to hell, or some variation of it). Black was, however, a real Slytherin despite his apparent meekness. He knew how to utilize enemy´s moments of distraction and thrust mercilessly his knee into man´s stomach with all of his might.

While the man bend over from pain, Regulus wrenched himself free and ran to Severus. "I have no idea what...", he began shakily explain. His tutor was however looking behind his back and cut him short. "Later, Black..."

The muggle man was surprisingly soon back on his feet. He charged towards the two of them like an outraged bull. His face was red and an animalistic roar rose from his mouth. His whole gang joined in and the drunken woman let out a high-pitched scream. Severus dunked and avoided a punch, but then he stumbled to his own feet and fell face first to asphalt. Regulus, who had better reflexes and agility avoided the first hits and even managed to land a counterattack on one of the goons.

They were so badly outnumbered that Regulus reached for his wand despite the strict regulations against underage magic. He was about to cast a spell, when fingers appeared from the ground and wrapped around his ankle. After getting his attention his potions tutor whispered: "Black... After I´ve count tree, stop breathing and run towards that yellow building over there with that huge banner. Try to be as fast as possible and definitely don´t inhale before you are there! Is that clear!" Then Regulus felt a pain of hit in his shoulder and Severus´s face disappeared behind someone´s legs. Through the other noises Regulus could hear his tutor´s familiar voice counting backwards.

When Severus reached number one, Regulus heard the faint voice of cracking glass. In the corner of his eye he saw Severus breaking a small vial of potion to asphalt. Then thick mustard colored smoke began to emerge. Regulus held his breath and ran towards the building that Severus had pointed out earlier.

/

"Oh... Oh... W-what was that?", Regulus asked breathlessly. He turned to look back. The smoke had begun to clear and he saw their five attackers and the girl coughing in tears in the middle of it. "My own invention. Something similar to teargas or pepper spray that muggles use. It´s not harming... in any permanent way", Severus explained smugly.

Regulus batted his eyelids. That was actually plain genius. "But... What were you doing there on the ground?" he asked confusedly.

Severus´s face flashed bright red.

Regulus couldn´t help it. He began to giggle. At first, softly, then anxiety unraveled from him through uncontrolled almost hysterical bursts. Eventually he held his stomach with both hands and stopped only to gasp air. In the light of street lights the tears of laughter glimmered in his eyelashes.

The howl of the sirens was what finally broke Black´s laughing fit. It stopped as suddenly as it had started. The boy glanced furtively around like scared deer in highlights.

"Oh, great! Vampiric valkyries...", cursed Severus. "The stupid girl in the stall. She must have called police."

"But aren´t they like aurors of muggle world? Shouldn´t those people worry about that more than us?" Regulus reasoned all but sure of himself. He nodded towards the group of coughing muggles.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Feel free to stay, Black. If they bring you to a hearing and want to call your parents... I´ll generously let you to explain to Walburga why we even are in muggle London." After he had said that, Severus began to run.

Regulus hesitated for a second before following his lead. "You are scarily clever, Severus", he admitted.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi, again :)**

 **It´s always funny to read your comments. Review this chapter too, please.**

 **-everyJohn**

/

"So... where are we heading?"

"Away."

"... Yes, but how far away?"

Severus didn´t answer. He looked so grumpy that Regulus hesitated before asking again. "You do know the way back, don´t you, Severus?"

"Shut up, Black."

"You don´t", Regulus sighed and his shoulders slumped.

"Only places which I´m familiar with in London are Kings Cross and Diagon Alley."

"That doesn´t help."

"Obviously."

They were both silent for a moment, but that was cut by a demanding growl of Severus´s stomach.

"Black... here", Severus muttered and offered a half unwrapped food backing to Regulus. He opened another for himself.

At first Black looked the food suspiciously. He held a deep-fried potato slice between two fingers and sniffed it. Then he carefully took a small bite. He became very quiet while savoring the taste. "So this is muggle food..." he whispered after a while. "Muggles really do this without magic?" He turned towards Severus. When the older boy nodded, he was deeply impressed.

Severus was quite glad to finally sank his teeth into food himself. This was probably the most painstakingly achieved fish and chips ever... but he had to admit that it tasted quite good despite being slightly smashed and almost cold.

/

After a short discussion Regulus agreed with Severus that using a wand was their best and only opinion to get home before morning. Severus argued that as a pure blood Black, Regulus would have a better chance to break regulations without being punished too harshly. Regulus noted that it had been Severus´ idea to sneak into muggle London in the first place. (Truthfully, he wasn´t nearly as worried about breaking school rules as Walburga´s wrath.) Severus reminded that everything had been fine until Regulus had started to hit on some one else´s girlfriend. Regulus claimed that he didn´t even know, what that "hit on" was supposed to mean, but agreed reluctantly to try a tracking spell.

Regulus rose his wand but before he had time to mutter the incantation something happened. The dark street flashed with lights and a purple three decked bus rushed towards them in horrifying speed. It´s brakes began to screech and it wobbled from one side to other. Then at last possible second it suddenly stopped.

"Knight bus..." Regulus huffed while getting up. He had jumped into a bush to avoid the bus and had now leaves stuck in his brown hair. "I´ve never used it. Walburga claims that it´s too muggle-esque for us."

"I strongly disagree", Severus muttered dryly, still a little taken aback by the fact that they had just minutely avoided a death by a purple bus. He stared at the horrible apparatus suspiciously and ready for anything at any moment. "...only wizards come up with something that tacky."

Before they had time say anything more, one of the purple doors of the bus opened and a plumb lady with bob cut stepped out. She looked around disinterestedly and after taking notice that neither of them had luggage she waved for them to step in.

"Do you have any sickles with you, Black?" Severus whispered. Apparently he wasn´t silent enough as the woman began to look at them suspiciously and when they were about to step in she held her open hand in front of them blocking them with her formidable body.

"And where would the boys be heading to? Payment first."

Severus considered pleading (which told much about his desperation), but before he had a chance to try it, a head of an elderly gentleman peaked out from the buss door. "You are Regulus Black, aren´t you? The younger brother of Sirius, am I right?"

The speaker was an aged wizard in brown trench coat. His bushy almost white hair was disorganized and getting thin on the top and his round eyeglasses were tilted to left giving a clumsy impression. Short brittle had grown to his chin. He stretched his wrinkly but nevertheless strong hand towards Regulus and gave him a polite smile. "What are you doing out this late, Mr. Black?" He inquired. Then he seemed to notice Severus. "And who is your friend?"

"Money, or leave", put in the witch.

"You really take you job seriously, Fiona", the man scolded. After a moment of hesitation he took out his purse and offered some sickles to the woman. "I will pay for the boys this time. One of them is a brother to a boy, who is like a second grandson to me", he explained even though no-one had asked anything.

Severus looked firmly to ground but stepped in after Regulus.

From inside the bus seemed much bigger than from outside. Severus suspected several different spells taking place. As the bus jerked forward to continue its route in the same reckless speed the huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling rattled. Severus felt urge to take cover under a seat but whoever had cast the magic to hold the chandeliers on place had made decent enough job as they stayed where they should.

The driver was a middle aged man with thick eye glasses. There were also a handful of other passengers in the bus. One young witch with her daughter talked in the other end of the bus. A man whose face seemed to grow some kind of animal hair lied in a hammock that was hanging over the aisle from two massive hooks. Two wizards talked in low voice around a small table. Their long hoods hid their faces, but it seemed like they were playing wizard´s chess.

The same elderly man, who had paid for their travel gestured them to sit with him. Severus knew, who the man was without asking. He had seen him at Kings Cross enough of times accompanying his grandson to the school train and welcoming him back home after the school year. Henry Potter was James´s grandfather.

/

Severus wasn´t delighted of the situation. It was supposed to be only time of the year he didn´t, at least, need to bear Potter and Black anywhere near himself. And there he was, sitting neatly next to Black and opposite to Potter (even if the first was a brother and the second was a grandfather). And now he was expected to have polite conversation with both.

"So what was your friend´s name again?" Potter´s grandfather asked. Severus didn´t care to see how the man would react to his name. His grandson and that mutt of a brother of Regulus´s had probably not painted a very flattering picture of him. Maybe the old man would even have him thrown out from the bus.

"Stephenus Snark."

Mr. Potter´s hairy eyebrows rose in surprise. "I´ve never heard that name..."

"My father is muggle."

"Oh. Nice to meet you... Stephenus. Are you also in Slytherin?"

"Yes, I am."

"With the recent politics Slytherin must not be the easiest place for a half blood such as yourself."

"Anyone, who is sorted into the house of snake is supposed to have enough cunning to deal with that much at least."

His answer had been rather sharp, but Potter´s grandfather didn´t seem offended. "I think, that you are a clever young man for thinking like that, Stephenus. Slytherin being more of cunning than blood status... That is probably how its supposed to be. But I have a hard time in believing that all of the Slytherins think like you do. According to what I´ve heard some of your school mates wish to join in forces with You-Know-Who and fully support his ideology..."

"You seem to be awfully well aware of the matters in Slytherin, Mr. Potter. I just wonder, what else does your informants know. Did they specify who exactly one should avoid? It would be good to know so that we would at least be aware, when we are being... brainwashed", Severus inquired mockingly.

"I would imagine that you know them best yourself." The old man told him calmly. "But in which year are you two again?"

Regulus answered to that: "I´ll start my sixth year and Se... Stephenus will start his final year."

"Then... You are in the same year as my grandson, aren´t you, Stephenus?", Mr. Potter counted and turned to Severus. "It´s curious, I´ve never heard them talk about anyone called Snark."

Severus shrugged his shoulders trying to look indifferent. Luckily, the old auror accepted it.

"You asked, if there is anyone you should avoid. I know, you didn´t really want for me to answer to it, did you? But forgive the old man for wanting to advice you younger ones. You may ignore it, but I really don´t wish for you or Regulus to take the wrong path. Do yourselves a favor. Avoid the groups in which Rosier, Avery, Travers, Muciber and Snape are. I know that you aren´t afraid of being brainwashed, but all of them have shown interest to dark arts and they openly wish to join in Deatheaters. You won´t be able to avoid taking part in the war if you keep them close company", Mr. Potter told them seriously. "I´ve seen one wizarding war before this and I´ve witnessed that so many times."

Severus gave him a thin smirk and didn´t even feel like saying anything. Black who sat next to him was for once the more active one. "Mulciber is all that you say. Probably he is even worse. I even agree somewhat about Rosier and Avery. They are quite open about their opinions. Travers... Well, who can reliably say that they know, what is on his mind? Your hunch is, however, similar to mine", he said and frowned. "But... you can´t count Severus Snape among them!"

"This Snape hangs with these other people, doesn´t he?"

"He is a Slytherin in their year. He doesn´t have too many options to choose from."

"But I´ve heard that he does perform dark magic, did even before his first year. This I heard from a girl who knew him even before Hogwarts. They were close friends until he called her 'Mudblood' to her face. You must agree, that he doesn´t sound very decent."

Severus ground his teeth. That friendship must not have meant much for Lily if she was already badmouthing him to his boyfriend´s relatives.

To Severus´s surprise Regulus´s eyes flicked with anger. He was calm and composed, completely different from his quick tempered older brother. He didn´t forget his manners. Quite the opposite. He talked if possible with even more politeness than usually as if to highlight his displeasure and distance he felt to the other person. He sat straighter on the seat and looked at the old man pure contempt in his brown eyes.

"You have a high opinion of your grandson and my older brother", he began evenly, "but I have to say, that I am surprised that an accomplished auror such as yourself takes school rumors as a reliable source of information." Regulus stated it almost calmly looking Potter´s grandfather straight to the eyes, but Severus noticed that he breathed heavily and his balled fists trembled slightly. The accusation made the old auror wince.

Regulus continued: "Despite giving you a biased opinion of a student of his rival house, I´m sure, that your grandson, was careful not to mention any details that would put himself in unfavorable light or paint him as... hmm, shady? Or should I say... borderline evil." His stare was unyielding when he met the old man´s eyes.

Mr. Potter let out the breath he had been holding in and sighed resignedly. "Oh, I know, that James and his friends are far from perfect. I know that they have adventurous minds and get into trouble all the time." He admitted that in apologetic manner but still with a small but fond smile. The old auror shrugged his shoulders. "I try to be stern with them, as Fleamont and his wife are surely not, but on the other hand I understand my son... Times are dire. It´s good, that they can still act like mischievous school boys. In the face of upcoming war, they might have to grow up fast."

"Some people have very different opinion of the harmlessness of their mischiefs, Mr. Potter. But that must be just a matter of viewpoint, I´m sure", Severus commented in dry tone.

The man laughed uncomfortably at that. "You have a serpent´s tongue, Stephenus. It´s curious, how the boys have never mentioned you, even though they usually talk a lot about you Slytherins. Mostly bad things, I admit... that was a valuable point you made, Regulus."

Then Mr. Potter remembered that he was the adult there and that required him to make some questions to two underage wizards he had come across to.

"What were you boys even doing in the middle of London this late at night?" Severus and Regulus exchanged looks before deciding that telling the truth of the matter would probably cause least confusion. Severus explained roughly, what had happened and Regulus added a word there and then. The aged auror seemed quite humored by their story.

"So your mother has not let you to step in the muggle London until now, despite you living in the middle of it?" he asked from Regulus curiously.

The boy blushed and answered in defensive tone: "It was never necessity as we have a perfectly functioning floo connection in our house."

"Those old pure blood lines! Determined to defy all new winds... Still, you should be thankful to your friend for dragging you out."

"I am", Regulus admitted with a quiet voice.

Mr. Potter looked thoughtful for a moment. "You seem to have already experienced quite an adventure... I think that it would be best, if you came with me to Diagon Alley. I was going head to Leaky Cauldron before even meeting you two. The floo connection there should still be available. If either of you remembers how to get past the wards of your private hearth you could floo yourself home without rising any commotion. I even have some spare powder that you could use."

Mr. Potter´s suggestion was generous and boys had nothing against it.

/

With hazardous speed it was moving the ridiculous purple bus soon arrived to the door of Leaky Cauldron. On the way there, James´s grandfather had already taken quite a liking to both boys and had offered to buy them butter bear if they stayed for a drink. The boys agreed and Potter ordered fire whiskey for himself. After the first one he ordered a second.

He went that far that he insisted on both of them tasting some fire whiskey too. Regulus wrinkled his nose to the idea of taking a sip from disgusting stuff, but the man teased him by saying: "This is the night of your first times. You lost already your virginity to muggle world. You were in danger to lose your virginity in general... (to a muggle woman on top of that!) You even had your first fistfight. Then you traveled in knight bus for the first time. So, I must ask: What is some fire whiskey virginity compared to all that? I bet that even Walburga would look at it favorably compared to some other things you have already accomplished."

The boy drank the whole small glass looking stern and without saying anything. Severus smirked while watching that. He himself had enough experience to know to drink slowly. Mostly he only sipped the drink.

/

"All that blood supremacy crap is so pointless! Promise me boys, that you won´t let blood status dictate your life. Be always same great friends as today!" Potter´s grandfather proclaimed warmly cheeks reddish from alcohol.

"Are we friends, Black?"

Regulus looked at Severus completely devastated. The older boy almost regretted his words.

"Of course, you are. What are you if not friends? You can´t be lovers, huh?" Henry Potter guffawed.

The drink was taking effect in the younger boy too. He leaned unsteadily to Mr. Potter and whined: "You see. He´s always like that! So mean! I just want to be his friend but he... He always has to be so mean. Is..." There were tears in Black´s drunken eyes. "Is not fair!" He declared and sniffed.

"It´s not", Henry agreed while patting the boy´s shoulder. Then they both turned to look Severus accusingly.

"Apologize." Henry ordered and hiccuped.

"A-aapologize", Regulus agreed and they both stared at Severus so long that he eventually couldn´t help giving in from annoyance.

"I apologize, because you insist." He held his hands up as a sign of resigning. "But we really need to go now, Black. It´s almost morning. Your mother is going to wake up soon!"

/

Severus dragged the drunken boy towards the fireplace. It was quite a task as as soon as they got couple of meters forward, Regulus turned around and rushed back to the table. That happened many times. Either he thought that he had forgotten something or he wanted to tell Potter´s grandfather one more time, what a great auror he was and how thankful they were for his help. And of course he wanted to hug him. Hugging seemed to be something Regulus had just noticed after 16 years of life and was enthusiastic to practice as much as possible with anyone and anything. Severus himself had been in receiving end of nearly ten hugs on this night already.

When they finally reached the hearth, he had to pull Regulus back from the jumper. Otherwise, the boy would have tried to step into burning flames without even throwing any floo powder in first.

Next, Regulus stuffed his hands full of green powder. Unsurprisingly most of it flowed to the floor through his fingers. They were luckily alone in the room and Severus didn´t have to explain the mess for anyone.

"Do you remember, how to get past the house wards, Black?"  
"O-of course, Severus. Its Friday, so the password is... hmm... Aurum est potentia, I think."

"Good. But it´s past midnight already."  
"It is? What is it then? Sanguis imperas? ...or was that on monday?"

"What happens if you get it wrong."  
"Kreacher kills you."

"Then it´s better for you to go first."

/

After practically pushing Regulus to the fireplace, Severus turned back to Henry Potter. His intention was to thank him for his help and then tell his goodbyes. To his surprise the old auror was up on his feet and had begun to collect his things. "Are you going somewhere?" Severus asked. The man claimed that he was going to meet a friend. When Severus pointed out it was quite late (or early, depending on the viewpoint) he claimed that his friend was awake and they would grab another round of drinks.

Mr. Potter looked now much more sober than a moment ago so Severus didn´t pester him. He said his thanks and stepped in the hearth. Just as he was wording his destination he saw through smoke in the corner of his eye that Mr. Potter opened the outdoor and exited the Leaky Cauldron. He remembered seeing a flash of green green outside before the door completely closed after the auror. In the middle of cracking fire and blurring scenery he also imagined hearing something heavy to hit the ground.


	7. Chapter 7

"What has you done to my master, half blood?" Kreacher hissed to Severus´s ear as it poured hot water into his teacup. The creature had figured out Regulus´s drained demeanor as soon as it had popped in the dining room carrying a tray of biscuits. Next it had drawn a conclusion that it was in one way or another definitely fault of the half blood tutor. Severus instinctively leaned further away from the furious elf. "That was self-indulged", he clarified dryly. He had to jump backwards to avoid a pour of scalding water, when the tea-pan in the house elf´s hands somehow slipped in such a way right above his thighs.

"HEY! What are you doing, you crazed elf!"

"YOU FILTH! Stop harassing my dear mast..."

"CAN´T YOU TWO BE QUIET FOR A MOMENT, MERLIN`S SAKE! My head is splitting", Regulus yelled. Then he realized, what had just let out of his mouth, and blushed through his ears. Walburga, who sat at the other end of the table, wrinkled her thin eyebrows disapprovingly. "Goodness, Regulus! Is that kind of language fit for a future lord of the house of the Black." Regulus deflated. "No... I apologize, mother." Walburga nodded satisfied and returned to sipping tea from a rose ornamented china. Regulus´s father hid behind the Daily Prophet but the slight shaking of his chin gave out the laughter he was trying to hide from his wife.

Regulus sighed deeply and returned to looking apathetically down to the white tablecloth. He leaned his head heavily to his hands and it looked like he was doing his best to hold back a puke. Kreacher mumbled obscene things about half bloods. It made a dramatic gesture of pointing its eyes with two fingers and then pointing them at Severus with an evil look on its small face. After that it disapparated in a puff of white smoke.

For some time the breakfast continued in silence that was pierced only by soft chinks of the tableware. Severus waited restlessly a time when it would be appropriate to leave the table but the old tall-case clock moved irritatingly slowly. Soft giggling from Mr. Black´s direction brought some welcome distraction. "Hear this, Regulus! Chudley Cannons, their seeker Christopher Dawlish has once again hit his head to a three trunk while trying to catch a snitch. Is that the third time in this season? Yes it is!" he relished happily waving out the newspaper. Regulus gave him a strained smile and Walburga snorted. No-one noticed a shock that appeared for a second on Severus´s face.

Soon after that, Regulus´s father wrapped the paper up and was about to leave, but Severus cleared his throat and asked: "Are you finished with it, Mr. Black? Could I have it if you don´t need it anymore?" Orion looked curiously first to Severus and then to the newspaper. "Why, Mr. Snape? Could it be that you are interested in Chudley Cannons?" "They are... quite amusing." "They really are", Orion smirked. He gave Severus the paper. "I actually had something to talk with you today. Would you come to my office, after you are finished with the breakfast, Mr. Snape." Severus nodded. Regulus´s father tapped his shoulder absent-mindedly and left the room.

Couple of minutes later, Walburga had a floo call from one of her numerous connections. After she had exited the room with the house elf, Severus´s relaxed demeanor changed drastically. He flipped vehemently through the pages of the newspaper. Regulus looked in confusion from behind of his shoulder. "What is it?" he inquired. Then he read the headline. "Retired senior auror killed. Well-known veteran auror, Henry Alexis Potter, found dead by avada kevadra from the moors, early today morning." Regulus took a couple of sharp breaths and went completely silent. One of the pictures attached to the news article was a monochrome picture from Mr. Potter´s younger days. In the picture stood and waved his hand a mischievously smiling bushy haired young wizard in a long trench coat. A bigger picture above it depicted an old man. It was hauntingly much more familiar.

"Severus. It´s Mr. Potter. The old Mr. Potter."

Severus nodded grimly. "You are right", he admitted.

"Severus... They... They say there that he is dead. It couldn´t be. I mean... We just saw him. It hasn´t been even complete five hours..." Regulus´s voice faded and he couldn´t finish most of his sentences. He looked Severus as if asking for help, wishing that the older boy would say something that would contradict this revelation. "Do you think... Severus... We weren´t the last people to see him alive, were we?" Severus shrugged his shoulders. He was still reading the article. "You mean, apart from the murderer? Who knows."

"But what should we do, Severus?"

Now the older boy turned to him. "We..." he started but hesitated. Right then Walburga´s high-pitched voice was carried from the corridor. "Lets not say anything about it for the time being. I will talk with you later today", he hastily whispered to Regulus and wrapped the paper up before the door opened.

/

Severus stood in front of Mr. Black´s office. His hand was on a silver door knocker, which was styled to look like an attacking snake. Severus had a nervous thought of it probably being enchanted to really attack if someone was trying to go through the door with less than innocent mindset. Severus steeled his expression not willing to show his anxiety to the man. Then he gave the door a determined knock. Almost immediately Regulus´s father´s voice was heard from the room urging Severus to step in.

The room itself was quite a classic home office with the high book shelves, mahogany bureau and black leather armchairs. Everything was of course of best quality. Severus noticed that underneath the furniture there was a luxurious oriental mat in the middle of which was depicted the coat of arms of the house of Black.

Orion Black rose his eyes from the papers he had been reading and stood up. He approached Severus with an out-stretched hand to welcome him. With a small elegant swift of his wand Severus was offered a chair to sit. "Well, well, Mr. Severus Snape. It seems that you are more than what meets the eye..." Mr. Black stated mysteriously and took a seat opposite to Severus. He had a sly glint in his blue eyes and he studied eagerly boy´s expressions. "I heard that you took my son to muggle London", he said suddenly. The youth in front of him stiffened a little, but recovered quickly. Orion continued: "You managed to get my straight laced son quite drunk, yesterday. At least, based on his obvious hangover in the morning." Severus straightened his back nervously and rose his eyes to meet the older wizard. "With all respect, sir, I..." Severus began, but Orion waved his hand to cut him short. "No, no. Don´t take me wrong, Mr. Snape. I´m not angry", he assured and broke into smile. "Heavens, no. I´m very pleased. I was beginning to fear that we had risen up a complete sissy", he laughed.

"Regulus isn´t a coward", Severus stated with a quiet voice.

"Of course not. How could anyone call the heir of the Black a coward? But surely it is high time for him to try something a little rebellious. He is sixteen. Merlin knows what I was doing at that age but I surely didn´t think my grades enough to ask for potions tutoring for the summer." Mr. Black said and tapped the varnished ebony table with his slender fingers. The huge signet ring in his little finger hit the surface giving out a loud bang. "My son has always been soft-spoken and groomed. Walburga doesn´t take to her ears that she should stop sheltering the boy for him to finally grow up as a man. His older brother was completely different." Severus thought that he heard melancholy in Mr. Black´s voice. "That boy had spirit. He could have reached far, but then he ended up becoming a... bloodtraitor." Mr. Black lighted a cigar and absent-mindedly offered one to Severus too. "I`m underage, sir." "Oh, that´s right. But not for a long time anymore, I suppose", he reckoned and put the box away. "Regulus is so timid and... Well, you must have noticed", he continued from the initial subject and took the first long breath of the cigar.

"I have not noticed."

"Ah, you are determined to take me wrong, so there is nothing I can do", Mr. Black sighed and folded his arms. "The reason why I asked you to come here today, was actually something else." He took another breath of the cigar. "Do you remember, what I asked from you on the first day we met? I asked if you could give me a helping hand in preparing some necessary potions."

"Yes."

"My friend needs some Dreamers Niff and Delayer Remedy. Can you make them?"

"They are regulated substances."

"I know that they are. I wouldn´t need your help with them if they weren´t. I could just buy them from Diagon Alley."

"For what purpose, does he need them, sir? If I may ask?"

Regulus ´s father was getting annoyed."All you need to know, is if you can brew them or not!"

Severus rolled his eyes."Right. Obviously your friend is not going to use them for medical purposes, which they are meant for. If he was, I would need to inform him that Dreamless Sleep Draught is much safer and pleasant choice. Dreamers Niff is inconvenient as it immediately evaporates when it comes in to contact with air and usually causes the whole room to fall asleep. Except, of course, if you have taken antidote to it beforehand. Furthermore after waking up most subjects report a pounding headache. And Delayer Remedy? Though it can save lives when used correctly, it should be measured carefully by an experienced mediwitch or -wizard. Tiniest bit of miscalculation can have severe after effects, even stop a heart permanently. But that obviously doesn´t interest you or your friend at all", Severus spit out. He noticed how Mr. Black´s stature stiffened and his expression turned sour. His snarkiness was obviously not appreciated. That had always been his biggest fault: not being able to stop the lashing of his tongue.

Again, Mr. Black breathed in the cigar. After a short pause he blew the smoke slowly out, quite directly at Severus´s face. That was probably meant to show him their difference in power and status. "You are very young. I see, that you think, you are clever, Mr. Snape. But too much knowledge can be... harmful." It was a threat. There was no question about it. "Now. How much time you need for brewing them?"

"It´s always seven days for the Delayer Remedy. You won´t find any brewer who could make it faster than that. Dreamers Niff I can make in one hour if I have the right ingredients and equipment for it. It takes couple of days more if you want also the antidote", Severus recited at slow pace. He rose his sight to the man. "The time would be taken away from your son´s tutoring. He needs all the help so..."

"Then you are to do the Dreamers Niff and the antidote immediately and Delayer Remedy as soon as possible."

"What if I refuse?" Severus asked cautiously.

"It would greatly complicate things, Severus Snape." There was sharp edge in Mr. Black´s voice. "If you have determined to hurt my feelings and ignore the generous hospitality I and my wife have offered to you..." Man´s voice faded. His finger curled one wasp of his dark hair. Then he looked straight to Severus and smiled in upsetting way. "Do you think, that Ministry would be interested to know that magic has been performed during summer months in a residence called Spinner´s End in Cokeworth despite the fact that the only witch or wizard in age, namely your mother was incapable of casting magic already many years before her death. You have... only one year of Hogwarts left, Severus. It would be tragic to drop out now, wouldn´t it?"

Severus didn´t ask how the man knew. He obviously had his connections. Instead, he hid his irritation the best he could. Never fight a losing battle. That was one of the main principles of the house of Slytherin. He gave Black´s father a thinlipped business smile. "Then. How much do you pay?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi, you all!**

 **This chapter is a short one, but I hope to be able to update more soon. About the previous chapter... I´m sorry for killing off old Mr. Potter. I really liked him... and I would have loved to write more about him. It just happened like this. Blame the war.**

 **-everyJohn**

There was still one bloody matter to handle on that damned day. Regulus... He had to talk with the young pureblood before the boy did something reckless like owled the aurors and spilled the beans. He wasn´t a Gryffindor, but his father was somewhat right about him being sheltered from certain life truths.

Luckily Severus didn´t need to search Regulus into his hands, as the boy soon appeared in his room on his own accord. He approached Severus warily as though sensing his mind. "You said that we needed to talk..." He whispered and Severus heaved him to come in and close the door after himself.

Severus sat cross-legged on his bed and Regulus settled gracefully on the floor opposite to him. The younger boy looked up to him with earnest brown eyes. Severus took out the newspaper he had put under his robes and unwrapped it in silence. Then they both read once again the ominous article.

"He was found from moors. Far away from Diagon Alley", Severus said thoughtfully.

"He could have apparated after we left."

"Yes. Except...", Severus pondered, "Mr. Potter had just gulped down three fire whiskeys, Regulus. Apparition in that condition would be terribly dangerous. Besides it´s strictly illegal." His long white fingers fiddled the newspaper. "Maybe he got side-along apparated after being killed? But, Regulus, I wonder... Around Diagon Alley there are no wards that would prevent apparition. It´s not like Hogwarts... So why did he take the Knight bus to get there?"

Regulus frowned. "Not everyone likes apparition or is good at it", he suggested weakly.

"Mr. Potter was a retired Auror. There is no way he was not qualified in apparition. He clearly was not hurt and he didn´t have any minors with him."

"Then, why did he take the Knight bus?" Regulus huffed.

"I suppose, that´s the question."

"I don´t understand... Truthfully, I don´t understand any of this. Someone was killed..." Regulus sighed. He wrang his hands as he talked. Severus saw that he was still shaken even though he acted now more collected than in the morning. Severus couldn´t really blame him for it. "Shouldn´t we at least contact the aurors and tell them what we know?"

"You must know, Regulus, that there is a high chance of this involving deatheaters, right?" Severus noted dryly.

He saw how Regulus´s face dropped.

"If we talk to the aurors too eagerly, The Dark Lord will surely come to know. That would practically mean us choosing a side." Severus continued and gave Regulus some time for the words to sunk in. "Think about your family, Regulus. Your father is rumored to have dealings with them. The Dark Lord wouldn´t take it kindly if his son helped the aurors to track their members down."

"I-I didn´t think about that", the boy admitted. After a moment, he asked anxiously: "Do you think, that the aurors will call us for questioning?"

"It may take some time if they stick to the place, where he was found... but I´m sure that someone, who saw us, will eventually tip them of. Then they will probably contact your father as he is the lord the house and request a hearing. I wouldn´t worry about it too much. It should be just a routine thing. It´s not like we could be their prime suspects. We both are underage. We could not have performed an unforgivable without our wand´s trace giving us up."

Regulus reflected his words in silence.

"Are you worried about, how your parent´s would react?"  
The younger boy avoided his eyes.

"Your father already knows about our little trip."

Regulus´s eyes widened in surprise.

"Your condition in the breakfast table gave us away. Besides I think that someone, who saw us, snitched about it to him. He didn´t seem like he would tell to your mother, though. He was actually quite proud of your rule breaking... Chances are that when the aurors contact him, he tries to hide that from your mother as well."

Regulus simply nodded, but Severus thought that he sensed relief in boy´s demeanor.

"So, do we both agree on this? We know nothing about it until the aurors contact your father? And if someone asks about it, we will just say that Mr. Potter offered to pay for our travel and we had butterbeer with him before flooing back to your home? Better keep it simple but follow the facts...", Severus wanted to confirm.

After a short moment of hesitation Regulus finalized the agreement with a determined nod.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi,**

 **I´m excited to hear, what you think about this chapter, so be sure to comment :)**

 **I don´t know if some of you have noticed the inconsistency in Severus´s use of Black and Regulus. There are quite many Blacks in the story (Regulus, Sirius and Orion), therefore using Regulus makes it easier to follow, who is the person in question. However, I don´t think that Severus would easily call other´s by their first names. Therefore, I made it so that as their relationship grows Severus will slip more and more into using Regulus. When he is in a professional role as his tutor (or angry with him) he will, however, use the more distant Black.**

 **-EveryJohn**

/

The next few days were nerve wracking. Severus was even more snappy and irritated than usual and would have preferred the company of steaming cauldrons over any human contact. To his grimace, that was impossible because of the tutoring sessions. To make the matters worse Walburga had demanded a demonstration of her son´s progress soon, and in Severus´s eyes there was yet no progress to be seen.

He decided to take a step back and instead of actual brewing they now spent most of their time in theory lessons and him teaching Black different preparation techniques. That was a short term solution. Actually, when it came only to theory, Black was already adequate enough. That, however, didn´t stop him from causing disasters out of nowhere. Today, for example, Severus had asked Black to bring cloydyflower buds, but the damned twit managed to bring dandylions. Then when he pointed out the mistake, the boy in his nervousness accidentally knocked a container full of dried cockroaches over his tutor´s head.

"You aren´t that daft, Black", Severus groaned while he picked cockroaches one by one from his black hair. "Tell me. What is this, Black?" His voice was misleadingly calm but at the same time he held his fingers in so tight fists that his whole upper body shook slightly. Black glanced furtively around as if searching for a cover from a ticking time bomb that was about to go off. "...nothing", he mumbled.

"You are a crappy liar, Black."

"It... really is nothing. I just lost my concentration for a moment..."

"Like Merlin knows you have been doing repeatedly during these weeks. This tutoring doesn´t advance your potioneering skill. It worsens them!" Severus snarled. He took couple of calming breaths before rising his black eyes to the boy. "If we continue like this, I can´t take any payment from your parents."

"I´ll try to do better. I really..." Black tried to assure. He wiggled nervously.

"So, you were merely fooling around until now?" Severus rose his eyebrows in fake astonishment. "And here I thought you were already trying your best!"

Regulus blushed to his ears.

Severus used the moment of silence to ask frankly: "Is it because of me?"

Black´s panicky expression was enough to answer that.

"There is no reason to continue the tutoring if my mere presence is making you fail", Severus grunted, slowly starting to turn away. He rubbed the place between his eyebrows with his fingers feeling suddenly very tired. "This is waste of time for both of us, Black. I will do what I should have done ages ago and tell your mother, that I´m quitting." He sighed. He didn´t like admitting defeat. And even less he liked going back to the Spinner´s end for the rest of the summer.

"N-no, you can´t! Please, Severus..." Black´s surprisingly firm hand wrapped around his arm stopping him in the midway. Severus scoffed, but Regulus looked genuinely desperate making him hesitate. "Then... bloody well, tell me, how we are going to manage this, Black! I refuse to continue like this", he grunted.

Black looked to his feet. "If only... you could not come around so suddenly. If you just stood a little further away... It´s just that you are very... intense. I don´t intend to, but I get startled", he stammered and blushed bright red.

"Hah! You need to learn to keep up your concentration even if someone suddenly walks in. Unexpected disturbances are a part of a potioneer´s career. Those happen enough already in school lessons and definitely more so, if you are going to be a healer", Severus claimed, but Black´s words got him to thinking.

"You don´t let my parents or me in either, when you are brewing..." Black muttered a little mutinously.

"Completely irrelevant."

That was where it was left.

/

Soon after that, Mr. Black knocked the door of their potions laboratory in the basement. He was very upset. It was revealed that aurors had been in contact with him. He was actually most nervous about aurors noticing the strictly regulated potions that Severus had been brewing in secrecy and calmed down considerably after Severus explained the real reason. He was further reassured after Severus told him that even if they searched through the house, they wouldn´t find anything illegal as the Dreamer´s Niff and the antidote to it had already been bottled and delivered to the buyer and the Delayer Remedy had basically the same basis as some other perfectly legal healing concoctions until the seventh day of the process.

Mr. Black gave Severus and his son a speech before the hearing. He urged them to reveal as little information as possible, claiming that the auror force consisted mainly of envious wizards that would do anything in their power to destroy the legacy of the pureblood families.

Severus knew that Mr. Black would be present in his son´s hearing. He would have wanted to be there also in Severus´s but wasn´t allowed as he wasn´t Severus´s legal guardian. Severus was asked if he wanted aurors to contact his guardian. The mental image of drunken Tobias suddenly being apparated to Grimmauld Place to be present in the interrogation of his wizard son that he hadn´t seen in almost an year was almost humorous. Severus declined. If his mother had still been alive, maybe he would have asked for her. She would have been repulsed and probably would have straight out refused, but bringing Tobias here would be merely petty harassment.

While one of the aurors went with Mr. Black and Regulus to Mr. Black´s office, two others grabbed Severus by the shoulder and disapparated with him.

/

Severus found himself in a large, white, brightly lit room without windows. He was put to sit on a stool, which was the only furniture in the otherwise empty room. One of the two aurors, a young modest looking man, whom he remembered vaguely from school, introduced himself as Frank Longbottom. He stood further away leaning to a wall while the other one, who told Alastor Moody as his name, circled around Severus like a starved predator. Mr. Moody was older and obviously more seasoned than his younger colleague. He had wild brown eyes and his face was sliced by a couple of wide white scars that stood out against the brown, weather-beaten skin. He asked sudden questions out of nowhere as if to put Severus out of balance.

"The night between the last Friday and Saturday. Where were you?"

Severus thought to himself, that straight out admitting it would be more suspicious than trying to lie at first. "I was at Grimmauld Place 12. I´m tutoring their son Regulus Black", he claimed. The man chuckled shallowly. "I don´t think so." He grabbed Severus´s long dark hair and pulled so that the boy had to look him to the eyes. "Someone spotted you and the young heir in the Knight Bus that very same night. How do you explain that? Better be honest, son." He let go of Severus´s hair and pushed him away so suddenly that the boy fell from the stool.

Severus hid his anger with another strong feeling, fear. Shakily he admitted to the aurors that he had tempted Regulus to come with him to muggle London. They had become lost while searching for food and were picked up by the Knight Bus.

He saw a glint of satisfaction in the auror´s cold eyes. "Someone paid for your travel. Who was it?"

Severus gulped. He had bit his tongue, when he fell and now his mouth had the taste of iron. "He said that his name was Henry Potter..."

"How convenient. Did you know that the same man was found dead only couple of hours later, from moors?"

"He... He is dead?" Severus acted surprised the best he could, but the auror´s eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"You claim that you didn´t know? That was all over the Daily Prophet immediately afterwards."

"I don´t have spare money to buy newspapers!" Severus hissed.

"We have also witness reports of you two going to The Leaky Cauldron with the man and staying there for quite a while with him."

"I can hardly help that he found us amusing and wanted to offer us drinks! Is that illegal? How could we have known that he would kick the bucket only couple of hours later!" Severus yelled frustrated.

That sort of questioning continued for a long while. He was asked same things with slightly different words repeatedly and any sign of hesitation or inconsistency was attacked relentlessly.

/

Scarface was talking something with his colleague, but their voices were so quiet that Severus couldn´t hear the words. As a result the younger auror nodded reluctantly and exited the room. He was left alone with Alastor Moody.

"Care to give me your wand for a check up?" Moody demanded, holding his hand in front of Severus.

"Is that a question or an order", Severus asked sarcastically.

"An order", the auror informed him dryly and almost ripped the wand from his fingers. Severus had always felt vulnerable without his wand and all the more in this strange distressing room. He liked dark and calm places with the smell of steaming potions and old books. Those kind of places gave him the feeling of security. This sterile, white room was completely different and it made him simply bristle up. He had to hold himself back not to hang on his wand with all of his strength.

The auror performed a priori incantatem to the wand. When he was shown only spells that Severus had performed weeks ago in Hogwarts on his last days there, he came back to Severus with a dissatisfied expression. "It´s your mother´s old wand, I presume?" He asked as if that was somehow incriminating. He gave the wand back to Severus, who nodded. "It seems clean, but that doesn´t prove anything. You could have easily used another wand."

Severus groaned inwardly. Were they determined to make him guilty of murder he didn´t commit? Were they so out of their wits that a poor underage half blood was the best they could come up with as a suspect?

/

The other auror came back and Severus was offered a small goblet of clear liquid. It looked like water. It smelled like water too, but Severus would have voluntarily eaten a pound of doxy eggs if it was water. He scowled the adults suspiciously.

"Aren´t you thirsty, son?" Alastor Moody urged with a small smile.

"Is drugging underage students by Veritaserum nowadays allowed even without any evidence of suspicion?" he commented snarkily.

"Drink it!" The auror commanded and when he didn´t immediately obey he did something with his wand and somehow Severus found his hand moving the goblet to his lips and him drinking the serum.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi!**

 **This is the first chapter I´ve written from Regulus´s point of view. Writing it was kind of tricky but interesting also. I really, would like to hear, what kind of thoughts it rises in a reader...**

 **-everyJohn**

/

Regulus´s interview was held in his father´s office in the Grimmauld place 12. Mr. Robards, the auror responsible for the procedure was a middle aged wizard, who sat straight on his chair. His thin, dark hair was parted in two perfectly equal portions on the both sides of his head and every time he tried to smile he managed to look a bit forced. His way of asking questions was, however, pleasantly straightforward and polite.

The mood in the start of the interviewing was strictly official but after almost two hours of asking and answering questions even the atmosphere began to slowly ease. In the end of the session Mr. Robards and Mr. Black already exchanged old memories of their common times in Hogwarts. From Mr. Robards hints, Regulus understood that his father had been quite a headache to him during their last years, when Mr. Robards had been one of the prefects of Ravenclaw. His father didn´t take badly to be reminded of his rebellious past. He laughed boisterously and even asked Kreacher to bring some pumpkin juice for his old friend.

Mr. Robards and the Blacks had already exchanged the necessary pleasantries preparing for goodbyes. Suddenly, Severus lunged in the room. Mr. Robards who had been about to reach for the navy blue cloak that he had lain on an empty armchair stopped in the middle of the action. The young tutor looked startledly around. His blinking eyes stopped briefly at the glass on the desk that was still half-way full of juice. He cast a sharp look to Mr. Robards, but didn´t say anything. Regulus noticed how his bony shoulders rose and lowered from his wheezy breaths and that his black robes had gotten dirty. There was even a small bruise forming on his face next to his left eye.

Mr. Robards stared Severus long with an unreadable expression. Then he, however, ripped his gaze off, grabbed the cloak and walked straight past the boy. He turned shortly around at the door to give Mr. Black and his son a polite bow before disappariting.

/

"Did he do something to you?" Severus asked quickly.

"N-No." Regulus denied. He shared a confused look with his father, before looking back to his tutor. "He just asked some questions and did the priori incantatem... I think that it is... a routine thing. He even apologized for the inconvenience. Why do you ask? "

"Nothing."

"Severus?"  
"Forget it!"

With those words Severus turned away. His angry steps banged loudly in the stairs, which told Regulus that he had headed to his room.

/

Regulus rapped his knuckles gently against the wooden door. He didn´t get an answer and tried the handle. To his surprise the latch clicked and the door gave a quiet squeak as it opened.

Despite the fact that the room no longer belonged to his older brother, surprisingly little had changed in there. Walls were still decked out in Gryffindor colors and banners. That was likely due to the permanent sticking charm Sirius had left behind on his last day there. Quite surprisingly the charm had held on and even Severus had to give up on its removal. The tutor had swallowed his disgust in silence and slept surrounded by posters of half naked Muggle biker girls without complaining. His brother would have been proud, if he knew, Regulus thought to himself. Sometimes, he found himself thinking that maybe his brother had just wanted to leave some kind of a permanent mark in the house, so that the memory of him would remain there.

Then Regulus noticed a small lump against the wall on the bed in the furthermost corner of the room. He approached it tentatively.

"Severus? Are you alright?"

When he didn´t get an answer, he sat down next to the boy. The bed creaked. Regulus kept waiting, but the older boy was stubborn. When Regulus realized how much time it would take to get anything out of him, he picked up one of the potions books laying around and began to read to keep himself occupied.

Finally some half swallowed angry words began to drop out from Severus´s mouth. "Those... Those scumbags! They are not better than Deatheaters! Ha! ...they think that they can do whatever they want because they are on the 'light' side. They think that they can meddle with other people´s minds without consequences! Just get away with it! If I could... If only I could, I would..."

"What happened, Severus?" Regulus asked softly.

His tutor´s head moved. Severus turned to look at Regulus with mulish expression on his gloomy face. "What happened?" He mimicked Regulus´s words. "Nothing."

But his black eyes flamed with pure anger.

"They just asked me some questions, just like you said. Isn´t that what aurors do?", he continued imitating Regulus´s earlier answer and rose up to a sitting position. " ...With me they just didn´t bother with the politeness."

He shook his head, a sardonic grin on his face.

"Yes. No-one offered any pumpkin juice. We had completely different kinds of bewearages there."

He grimaced uglily.

Then he continued with lower voice, but equally bitter tone: "Ha! They had a ready script, which they wanted me to follow. When I refused to play the part... they simply decided to drug me docile."

Regulus frowned. "They drugged you?"

"Veritaserum!" Severus hissed it like a swear word.

"The-they wouldn´t!" Regulus denied sceptically.

Severus snorted. "Do you dare to claim that I, of all people, don´t recognize a truth potion when fed it, Black?"

"But that is ministry controlled! It should be illegal to use it without proper procedures..."

"You can be god damn sure it is! And that´s why they obliviated me after everything was over. To hide their tracks."

For a moment Regulus didn´t know, what to say.

"If... If they obliviated you... How could you remember all of that?"

Severus turned away from him, towards the wall.

"Severus?"

"...Ever heard of occlumency, Black?"

"I´ve... I´ve heard of it. It´s something some old wizards do, isn´t it?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "And beside hearing the word, have you any clue what it actually means?"

"It means mind arts, right?"

"Yes, mind arts. Freaking bloody MIND ARTS!" Severus shouted and hit his fist to the wall.

"Blocking ones mind from... intrusions", Regulus recalled. He slowly shook his head. "Don´t say you actually can do it? I mean... Isn´t that supposed to take like... lifetime of practice, or something?"

"I´m a half blood, as everyone in this bloody house reminds me all the time. Do you know, who are my wizard relatives from my mother´s side? Your mother and father at least surely know after the background check they did."

When Regulus looked just confused, Severus answered to his own guestion.

"Princes."

"Princes? But they were left out from sacred twenty-eight because they didn´t have a living heir or any known direct descendants... weren´t they?"

"My mother, Eileen Prince, was disowned and burned out from family tree after escaping from the house to marry my muggle father. After she dared to conceive a half blood offspring, it didn´t come as a surprise that she got her name many times crossed over in anything associated with the Prince family. But she or her parents, none of them could do a thing to change the blood in her veins. And neither can I!"

After calming down a little Severus continued: "Princes were once almost royalty among wizards. That was long before anyone had even heard of your family. So tell me, Black... Why were Princes considered powerful? And why were they once horribly feared by everyone?"

Regulus gulped. "Be-because of m-mind arts?"

Severus smirked and clapped his hands without any true amusement. "Ten points to Slytherin. The house of Prince was once known as the Evil Eye of the Great Britain."

Regulus noticed that his pale face had almost haunted look on it. Severus shook his head and looked away.

"That grace had been long lost already in my mother´s times, but because of her heritage I have some aptitude to mind arts. I was trained by my mother since I was six."

Regulus gasped. "S-since you were six?"

"Quite young, isn´t it? And I can tell you, it wasn´t fun."

/

Severus had began to look greenish as he talked. Now he suddenly stood up and rushed past surprised Regulus to the bathroom. From the sound of it he was throwing over. After some sounds of flushing and rinsing, he staggered back to the room.

"Are you sick, Severus?" Regulus asked worriedly.

"It´s the damned veritaserum. Still rejecting it", his tutor answered curtly as he sat back on the bed next to Regulus.

"I still can´t understand... Why would they want to use that on you?"

"They asked if I had killed Mr. Potter or if I knew who did it. I didn´t. I repeated that under veritaserum and they weren´t pleased by the truth... After that, they simply asked if there were any other things I was hiding."

"Surely not!" That slipped from Regulus´s mouth before he could stop himself. Severus angry but strangely evasive stance made him, however, realize something that left a bad taste in his mouth. Something about Severus reminded him of ten years old Sirius who had been found out in sneaking out to play with some muggle children and had to suffer through Walburga´s harsh punishment. That was the same shame and helpless frustration and anger of a person beaten by someone much stronger.

Suddenly, Regulus felt cold anger towards the aurors that had done this.

"That has nothing to do with the case! They can only ask questions that directly focus on the case. Asking a question braced with those kind of words from someone under veritaserum is illegal. It´s a serious preach of wizarding rights. And... And you are even underage!" He yelled. His own words made him realize that Severus´s claim of memory manipulation might as well be true.

"They really tried to erase your memory?" he confirmed.

"You believe me now, Black?"

Regulus nodded. "But I have never heard of anyone resisting obliviate. Is occlumency really that strong?"

"Occlumency can be strong or weak depending on its user. It´s basically an enhanced mind wall. Everyone has some kind of mind wall. That ensures that their inner thoughts don´t just slip out. Most just aren´t very aware of it and those, who can even slightly manipulate it, are even rarer", Severus explained.

He looked relieved that Regulus finally believed him and was beginning to slowly calm down.

Regulus pondered on everything that Severus had told him.

"Could I learn it too? That occlumency?"

"Probably, but it takes time. That´s why most of the master´s of occlumency are old wizards. And I can assure you that the learning process... isn´t pleasant."

Regulus nodded.

"But why are you sick, Severus. Is veritaserum supposed to have such an after effect?" He then asked.

"Nope", Severus shook his head, "but blocking both it and the memory altering spell simultaneously is exhausting. It doesn´t help that it feels..." Severus swallowed the end of the sentence. He looked down, gritting his teeth. "...disgusting. Humiliating." He spit that out, but the rest came out as mumbling. "Thoughts are... very private. It´s like... like someone forces you to stand naked in front of a leering audience and you have nowhere to hide and just try to keep your dignity intact in any way possible."

A silence followed Severus´s words. The image that his words painted, brought to Regulus´s mind the spring in Hogwarts a year ago. Marauders had been insufferable to Severus for the whole year. Only couple of days before summer holiday, he had seen Marauders and a crowd of other people at the lakeside. After walking closer he had seen that James Potter had his tutor under a spell. Others laughed at that. His tutor was brought in the air upside down so that his underpants were revealed to the public. Then Lily Evans had stormed out and soon after that the situation had dissipated. Afterwards he had been very mad at Sirius. That had lead to one of their biggest fights ever.

"Tell me about veritaserum. How does it work?" Regulus prompted. He hoped that concentrating on something else would help Severus to get rid of the feeling of humiliation. Severus knew potions inside out and Regulus had learned to appreciate his insight descriptions.

"Veritaserum, like almost all other mind altering potions and spells, aims to penetrate target´s mind wall. That is usually achieved by confusing the mind wall of the direction of outside and inside thoughts. Inside thoughts are thoughts that root from the person´s own consciousness. They are thoughts that determine people´s actions, their inner voice. The outside thoughts are what comes from outside, namely suggestions, orders or pleas. Mind alterants make it so that the outside thoughts are disguised as inside thoughts to make the mind wall accept them without resistance. For example in case of love potion, brewers wish for the target to fall in love with them becomes something that the target thinks is arising from his own thoughts and feelings."

"Are there also spells or potions that do the opposite. Make the target think that his inside thoughts are outside thoughts?"

Severus laughed hollowly."That´s quite a sinister thought, Regulus. There are numerous dark potions... Who knows, but I have never heard about something like that. It would be very difficult to feed at least. If it existed it would basically cause one to fall into some kind of psychosis. The case would remind that of a schizophrenic. Sometimes, when occlumency training goes wrong there are results like that. The whole point of the training is to make one detect and reject outside thoughts. That is usually achieved through physical and emotional pain. Sometimes people become... hyper-aware of their thoughts. Then they may start to reject both inside thoughts and outside thoughts. If that happens they eventually completely close up. There are some cases like that in St. Mungos."

Regulus had listened quietly his every word.

"And your mother... began to teach that to you when you were six?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi! It´s been a long time. I hope you like the chapter. There is probably more to come soon.**

 **-EveryJohn**

Severus stared intently into a small goblet filled with dim blue liquid. His thoughts wandered.

Two days ago auror´s had visited at number 12 Grimmauldplace. When Severus had told Regulus about the treatment that he had received from them, it had agitated the young pureblood on a deep level. Maybe deeper than Severus. Severus remembered boy´s white and quiet anger, when he had finally understood that Severus was telling the truth. It had been confusing... and kind of flattering. It had been ages since anyone had felt so strongly for his sake.

Regulus had insisted on telling his father, but Severus had strictly forbidden it. Sometimes he just couldn´t fathom the idealism and naivety of Regulus´s. Telling anyone about occlumency was... Just. Plain. Short-sighed. Severus frowned. He felt still a wave of annoyance, when he remembered how stubborn and hard to convince Regulus had been. They weren´t some foolish Gryffindorfs ready to sacrifice whatever on the altar of righteousness. Snakes weren´t like that. Snakes hid both their triumph cards and weaknesses, fangs ready for an attack, until the timing was absolutely perfect and true victory at hands. Yes. He wanted revenge. But wounded pride didn´t excuse sheer stupidity.

Severus glanced the boy who was hovering by his side and reminded himself that he should go on with the task at hand even thought he wasn´t exactly enthusiastic about it. Regulus was waiting.

Severus slipped his finger deep in the goblet, swirled around once and dropped a tip of the slightly sticky fluid on his tongue. Both boys waited in silence. After a moment, Severus brought a hand to his mouth and let out a long yawn. Hours of hard work in the dim lit basement, made it hard to determine whether it was a natural one.

Severus shoved the goblet back to Regulus. "Considering all our efforts, this is... straight out pitiful." He saw how Regulus´s hopeful eyes dulled and his posture slumped, but he was not in merciful mood. "Black... Did you even try?"

That had been boy´s third try on the Draught of the Living Dead. Drop of it should have taken Severus immediately out. Of course, he had greatly suspected the potency of the product. (Otherwice he wouldn´t have tried it on himself. )

Severus admitted to himself that he was starting to lose hope with his student. The earlier clumsiness had been resolved beautifully as soon as he had given some space to the boy. After that, Regulus had been almost painstakingly meticulous with the ingredients and followed his instructions to word. But this was something different. Regulus did everything correctly but the magic just didn´t work to it´s full potential.

"You should know, that the potions rely on the brewers will, just like any other type of magic. You should always keep in your mind, what you want your concoction to do. When I look at this pitiful attempt of yours... Well, I don´t know what to say." Severus scratched his head irritated. "It makes me wonder... Do you even truly wish to become a healer, Black? As I can´t see your motivation here."

Severus´s piercing eyes stopped to Regulus´s and he waited. The boy squirmed. He moved his weight from one leg to other. He bit his lower lip. Then he, however, finally answered, carefully, as if afraid of the impact of his words.

"Severus, um... I really... Not all that much", he admitted guiltily. When the boy managed to get that out of his system the barely restrained nervousness he had hold in seemed to get on loose. He blushed to his ears and dared a panicky look at Severus. "I... I had no idea that it would cause so much problems with the brewing... Not really wanting to become one. A healer, I mean. I didn´t plan to hide it from you."

At least he had sense to look properly ashamed, Severus thought to himself.

"It´s not like I have much choice over the matter", Regulus muttered defensively. "You must understand, Severus. My parents were satisfied with that. Initially they aimed for a Minister of Magic. I didn´t want to contradict them too much." He stared gloomily the grey bricks that formed the floor of the basement. "They thought that my brother could have achieved that for them. After he left and I was the only son they had... Well, they had to lower their standards and settle with something less. They came to a conclusion that a healer was honorable enough and something I could hope to accomplish with my grades and personality."

Severus noticed that there was a considerable amount of bitterness in the boy´s voice.

"...Your brother? I suppose, you don´t have another besides Sirius?"

Regulus shook his head.

"So... Orion and Walburga wanted to make that idiot a Minister of Magic?" Severus stated in flat voice. He was astonished. "Give that reckless dimwit more power? To the same person, who thought it was a great idea to throw a handful of porcupine thorns into a Calming Draught in active state in a classroom full of people? Sure! Why not?" Severus gave an unbelieving laugh, but when Regulus didn´t join in, he stopped abruptly and spent a moment trying to evaluate, how real the danger of it truly happening was. His relieved conclusion was: not too real.

"I´m sure this would disappoint your parents, but I just don´t think your brother has brain cells to think much of anything else besides girls with big tits and that ridiculous sport that involves flying around with a broomstick stuck between buttocks", he snarled.

Regulus smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "It was never my brother´s idea. He said that it was too much work. My parents thought that they could convince him when the time was right."

Severus shook his head. "I´ve heard before that old pureblood lines are full of lunatics. Never thought it to be this bad." He felt a rare surge of sympathy towards his underclassman. Regulus sure had money to buy a potions shop or two, but it could not have been easy to live and grow up with these kind of people. The anger he had felt towards his student redirected towards his parents. At least mostly.

So what, if the young heir of Black had no intention of taking healer´s career? So what if Severus had no clue why he was even employed as a tutor? (Regulus´s parents for sure didn´t want him here.) Why should he mind? He hadn´t promised anyone that he would make a healer out of Regulus. All he needed to make sure was that Regulus was progressing in the art of brewing. His working conditions here were great and Severus, honestly, hated Walburga enough to do his best to prove himself capable of this tutoring. That simply meant that Regulus had to somehow pass her test!

"Your brother is not very likely to be our next minister of magic. Thank Merlin for small joys. But what about you? I caught on that it´s not potions or healing for you." Severus inquired. He leaned towards the boy looking at him intently. "There must be something else, isn´t there?"

Regulus took a step back and hit his back to a table. He looked guardedly around. "If... If I tell you I want it to be confidential."

Severus rose an eyebrow. "Ah. Of course it is. Who would I tell?"

Regulus nodded and straightened his back.

"I have always loved to draw", he told seriously, "And I was thinking of an artist in charge of magic craft."

He had said that almost defiantly and now he waited in silence for Severus´s reaction to his revelation. Severus was an expert in hiding his emotions so his face probably didn´t reveal much. "An artist?" Severus confirmed and blinked his eyes. Oh, he could totally see how that wouldn´t fit well with his parents´s plans.

"Not just artist but a magic artisan", Regulus corrected. "I wish to create magical, living pictures. And sculptures too if possible."

Regulus stopped for a moment. Then he took a huge breath. "I´ve always found magical paintings mysterious, intriguing... They persevere a moment of reality that would otherwise be lost in time. Most talented magic artisans are capable of capturing in their pictures the very souls of their muses. Or at least a reflection of that soul. Immortality... is an illusion. But a picture that earnestly depicts a person with all of their faults and blessings in one moment of their life, completely... That is art."

"Well..." Severus dragged the word, "...at least that saves any unfortunate patient from suffering through your potions."

"Yeah, I guess so...", Regulus admitted with a shy smile. Then his expression darkened. "But my parents will never allow it."

"It´s up to you how much weight you put on their opinion after you graduate. Until then, you better hide your true motivations, though", Severus muttered and thought about his own parents and their shattered expectations. (If they had ever even had any real expectations of him for him to shatter.)

"But, are you any good? That branch of magic needs some serious talent."

"I am better than just good", Regulus claimed surprisingly confidently.

"I would like you to prove it."

"How?" Regulus was puzzled.

"The basics of magical paintings are same as those made by muggle means, I suppose?"

"Very much so. Then?"

"Draw me. A sketch is enough. I will see if you have any talent needed to pursue the career of your dreams..." Severus smirked wolfishly. "...Or if I need to cut your wings early on."

When Regulus hesitated, Severus croaned: "What now, Black? I thought, that you were confident for once."


	12. Chapter 12

Regulus rummaged hastily through his robe folds and took out some parchment and ink.

"Where should I sit?" Severus asked looking around their small potions laboratory.

"Right there is good. Just stay still. And while I draw, please, do not talk. I would get distracted."

Severus nodded. He settled down on a small stool next to a table covered by measuring glasses, different kind of scales and parchments full of small writing of specific instructions.

Regulus found his worst nervousness easing after the first awkward strokes of the quill. Then the familiarity of the act took over and he was actually able to enjoy the situation. Soon, only sounds in the room were the soft scratches of the tip of the pen against the parchment and the breathing of both of them. While Regulus sank into deep concentration, he was, however, still vaguely aware that Severus kept watching intently his every move.

With his quill Regulus captured the characteristic curve of Severus´s eyebrows and the slight ever present frown between them. He sketched carefully the big nose that gave his tutor´s face so much of distinctive character. With some precise strokes he depicted the thin cheeks and the tension around the mouth. Then he focused on the lean, slightly angular upper body bending over the bony knees hidden somewhere under the dark fabric. He drew one by one older boy´s tender long fingers peeking from the wide sleeves of the black robe.

As his hand worked his mind wandered to the young man in front of him. Still, after years in Hogwarts and weeks at home, Severus was a riddle of contradictions. Regulus wondered if Severus Snape had ever let anyone truly under his thick skin. Maybe that Evans girl at some point... At school, he was an impeccable genius. Well known Marauder´s curse target. Known to be hopelessly in unrequited love with his "mudblood" childhood friend. No-one really knew Severus Snape and he was treated like an unknown dangerous species among his housemates. Severus was... so many things. Prideful despite his background. He hid his wounds and weaknesses as much as any other Slytherin. He was ruthless and irritable and full of sarcastic spike like a porcupine. But then again... Sometimes he was also unexplainably gentle. Those earnest moments happened suddenly, out of blue, when you had already ceased from expecting anything like that from him. They hit deep into gut and left you confused and wondering...

Regulus drew his tutor´s eyes last. He had avoided it, because he anticipated that looking directly into black irises would be hard. Those sharp, dark orbs were so cold and calculating that sometimes they seemed plain hostile. But if you looked deeper, you saw them filled with deep sadness that was like a bottomless pit ready to drown the spectator, who looked for too long or too deep.

What did the world look like through such eyes? Regulus sometimes found himself wondering.

He wouldn´t have needed to worry. Today the gaze that met his was distant as if it became from behind of an invisible layer of glass. He was not let in and Regulus didn´t know if he was disappointed or relieved.

/

"I´m finished", Regulus muttered after ten to fifteen minutes and straightened his back. Severus stood up from the stall, stretched his long limbs, and walked to him. He took a curious look at the picture and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Is that supposed to be me?"

"Y-yes?"

"You don´t need to flatter me. It doesn´t work."

"I didn´t. In my opinion, I actually drew it quite exactly. I swear", Regulus assured.

Severus looked still suspicious and Regulus pointed the nose of the picture.

"Look at this. I didn´t reduce it, did I? It´s just like your real nose. What point in particular you think that I altered?"

Severus looked at the drawing, but he obviously couldn´t tell.

"But I look... good. I don´t look disgusting, shaggy or..." He silenced, when he noticed that he was badmouthing himself.

"I just drew what I saw."

"And that´s what you saw?"

"Yes. Very much so."

Severus looked the picture once again. Then he smiled. For a brief moment he looked like child younger than sixteen and... happy. It was as if sun shone to the underground basement for a few seconds. Yes. A hit deep into gut, indeed. Regulus felt breathless.

Severus turned to Regulus. "Maybe you aren´t completely lost cause, Regulus", he admitted with a voice full of wonder.

Regulus didn´t even try to stop a wide grin from spreading to his face.

"Now tell me about it!" Severus ordered excitedly.

"Uh... Huh?"

"How it´s done? Painting living pictures. I need to know what my student is into", he explained impatiently.

And Regulus told him, at first hesitatingly, but Severus was a good listener whenever he was genuinely interested. He nodded concentrated expression on his face and gave specific questions. Regulus´s confidence rose and he began to speak more freely and enthusiastically.

"So the materials really matter? You use brushes that are made of the hair of a certain magical creature? And paints... Every magic artisan has their own unique way of making their paints, is that right? That is pretty close to potions... Maybe we could use it. Have you tried it yet?" Severus´s asked a little sparkle in his eyes.

"No... No, I haven´t. I´ve just read the theory. Traditionally one would apprentice for a master of the craft after graduation, but I never thought it would be realistic to even think of it..."

"Listen me, Regulus. In sixth year curriculum, students are tasked with learning and experimenting with one difficult potion of their choice. It makes a third of their final grade of the year. If we make your potion to be a paint, maybe that would motivate you enough to pass the year. What do you say?" He grabbed Regulus´s shoulders with obvious excitement.

Regulus got so overwhelmed that he could only nod.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi, it´s been a while, but don´t you give up on me cause here I go again! :)**

 **Read and review, please!**

 **-EveryJohn**

"How is it going with Regulus´s tutoring? Any progress there?" Orion asked lightly as he put his umbrella into a stand made of a troll leg. He knew that, in Walburga´s opinion that particular umbrella stand was extremely distasteful. Truthfully, that was exactly the reason why Orion had decided to purchase it in the first place and why he made a show of using it every time he visited their home.

He met his wife at the main hall. She was talking with a young dressmaker witch, whom she had hired to prepare outfits for their family to an upcoming dance ball. The girl was cute, Orion thought to himself. She looked like she was barely out of Hogwarts but she had to be pretty well-known or Walburga wouldn´t have bothered with her.

At first, Walburga didn´t reckon her husband´s arrival in any way. She snatched the cloth samples from the girl´s hands and began to closely scrutinize the fabric. After a moment, she, however, started to talk. "I had my suspicions about that half-blood, but apparently he was competent enough", she admitted reluctantly. She took out her wand to cast a simple spell to test the cloth quality. "Could you have imagined? The other day, our son, whom professor Slughorn deemed hopeless, actually prepared a complicated cleaning potion for me." Walburga turned towards her husband. Her painted lips squeezed into a smug smile. "It was faultless! According to Kreacher it was effective even on those magical scribbles that Sirius left behind. I was about to lose hope with those. He couldn´t have dreamed of making something like that a month ago."

Walburga had rubbed a fabric between her long fingers as she talked and now she made her decision. "Use this", she said suddenly and shoved a piece of black satin to the girl. "I was thinking of raven feathers on the shoulders and coming down following the arms. Can you manage that?" She asked.

The girl nodded briskly. "Of course, madam."

"Good." Walburga approved and turned back to her husband. "To continue with our earlier topic... Regulus is almost too into it, now. He is all the time either in the library or in the potions laboratory in the basement and always with his tutor. I´m not too pleased with that. The smell of potion fumes is starting to stick on him. We can just hope that Mr. Snape´s muggle upbringing doesn´t stick along with it." She wrinkled her thin nose to express displeasure. Then she reached for a hand mirror and put another cloth sample against her skin. Apparently she became only more convinced of her decision as she smiled contently while putting it away. She didn´t see how Orion rolled his eyes behind her back. Therefore she didn´t know the reason for a nervous giggle escaping from the girl. However, as if somehow sensing what was happening, she whipped around. The girl had barely time to hide her laughter behind a palm.

"I understand that you perceive it as worrying, but maybe it is just another phase in our son´s life", Orion mollified, face carefully neutral, taking his wife´s attention away from the poor girl. "I am sure that when the summer ends and they go back to school, everything will naturally return to normal, Walburga."

"You better be right about that, Orion. I want him to cut his relationship to that half-blood as a first thing in the beginning of the new semester. A second-class half-blood is hardly good company for someone who is going to be a respected and well-known healer."

Orion rose his eyebrows to his wife´s outburst. "You never know, Walburga. Mr. Snape might be more remarkable than either of us initially imagined", he murmured. "You were already surprised by his tutoring skills and I happen to know that important people are interested in him. Maybe our son has surprisingly good eye for tutors."

Walburga snorted haughtily. "Kitsch may shine bright under sunlight but it will never compare to diamonds on a rainy day", she quoted. Her eyes burned with fierce determination. "Similar to that, no social climbers are ever going to compare to old noble blood. Surely, it is impossible for someone with muggle father to become anything worthwhile."

"That may be true in most cases, but I still think that you are being a little too black and white with Mr. Snape, my wife. You forget, that the times are changing. Old rules may lose their meanings", Orion contradicted. He gave out his most disarming smile and made a vague attempt to put his hand around his wife´s frame, but Walburga dodged him as if he was suffering from something highly contagious, disgusting and deathly, such as leprosy. "Keep your hands off", she hissed.

Walburga smiled icily. "I don´t like Mr. Snape, but actually I should still be pleased that my son hangs around a worthless half-blood instead of him being in company similar to yours, Orion." Orion batted his eyelids and took a defensive step back. "What do you mean, Walburga?" he asked bemusedly and got a mocking laughter from his wife. "Those... what do they call themselves again? Deatheaters and what not...? Gathering around that shady leader of theirs. Hardly anyone seems to have ever even seen that Dark Lord of theirs. But apparently he is so great that he is going to be the sole cure to everything rotten in the world." Walburga snarled.

The young seamstress made several nervous glances between the spouses. Both of their voices had risen in volume and altitude. The main hall was spacious and the ceiling there was high, but despite this the atmosphere was fast becoming suffocating. The girl proceeded to a strategic retreat towards the hallway. Before disappearing and leaving the husband and wife alone she mumbled something about having to check the availability of the fabric, which Walburga had chosen .

"Proud pure-bloods wagging their tails like eager little puppies... That is what I call disgrace!" Walburga sizzled.

"Our Dark Lord is a great man and probably the most talented wizard since Merlin himself!"

"Ha! Lord? What kind of Lord he is when we know nothing about his bloodline? He could very well be as much of a mud rat as Mr. Snape, for all we know! And if you have already began to call him a Lord does that mean that you are now officially one of them, Orion?"

"No, not yet. They haven´t taken me to an initiation, Walburga, but..."

"You are pitiful, Orion."

"You just don´t understand, Walburga. One day our family is going to benefit greatly from my connections. The world is changing! A new order is in due and that order is of the Dark Lord and his followers. If we stick too closely with the old line of pure-bloods, we will lose our opportunity! Those people you have your tea parties with... They are soon going to be just dust on the pages of history. They have no future. Try to understand, Walburga. I´m only thinking of us. Our son!"

"Regulus is never going to join in Deatheaters! Not as long as I live. I can´t do anything if you decide to ruin your own life, but he is not going to be used as a sacrifice pawn by some suspicious self-proclaimed 'Lord'. I have not risen my son for that kind of future! I will never allow it! "

/

It was Saturday, the 30th of July, and Severus had spent most of the morning in his room upstairs listening the arguing of Regulus´s parents.

The last couple of weeks had been surprisingly pleasant for him. It had been quiet and relaxing time in the Black mansion. From the headlines of The Daily Prophet Severus, however, knew that the things in the outer world were very different from that. The whole magical Britain seemed to be under turmoil. All kinds of criminal activity had escalated. Muggles were victimized almost daily. There had been repeated occasions of muggleborns being threatened in public places such as Diagon Alley. Even pure-bloods were afraid to walk out alone, especially at night time as they often became targets of derision and general bitterness. During all that suffering, Grimmauld place number 12 had been like an isolated safe haven. The terror raving in the outside world had never quite reached the old and isolated house in muggle London.

On these days, preparations to an upcoming dance ball had kept Walburga´s calendar full. Regulus´s father, on the other hand, had visited the Grimmauld place only a handful of times ever since Severus had began his tutoring job. Due to all of this, the boys were mostly left alone in the house. Kreacher was there, of course, but the house elf kept mostly to itself. Severus surely didn´t complain.

Today, however, Orion Black was back in the house. Severus was annoyed. He wished that the man had stayed away at least a little longer. He had quickly picked up that Orion and his wife could barely tolerate each other even in the rare situations when were forced to do it. They were at each other´s throats practically as soon as they walked in the same room. Severus had a favor to ask from Walburga and needed her to be on a good mood, but after listening to the loud voices downstairs he came to a conclusion that it was probably too late for that already.

Tomorrow would be his 17th birthday. Coming of age was usually a big event in the Wizarding world. For the first time he would be allowed to use magic outside the school boundaries. Severus didn´t expect a grand celebration but last week he had gotten his first paycheck. The Blacks had paid him generously. Severus was yet to spend any of the money, but he knew what he wanted. He had needed a new wand for as long as he could remember and now he finally had enough money to make his wish true. He wanted to make a trip to Ollyvander´s shop in Diagon Alley as soon as possible. Tomorrow, when others were at their dance ball, would be perfect occasion for that. That was, if Walburga gave her permission to him.

At some point, Severus noticed that the screaming in the downstairs had finally calmed down. Soon after that, he heard someone to stomp up the stairs. The man opened the door to Severus´s room without knocking. He crossed the threshold with a couple of long strides and pulled out a wooden stool to sit on.

Mr. Black told Severus enthusiastically that the acquaintance, whom he had mentioned earlier, had been very pleased with the potions that Severus had prepared. The same person had made some additional requests. Orion revealed these news in a way that suggested that Severus should be flattered. He was visibly disappointed when the young man stared back to him with obviously suspicious eyes.

Severus mentioned that before accepting the order he, at least, needed to know the names of the requested potions. After Regulus´s father revealed the names, he went silent. The first concoctions had already been borderline illegal but now Severus knew that those had been merely a test round. Test on his skills... and on his morals too. Severus pondered that while he was probably capable of fulfilling the request in the advanced potions laboratory that the Blacks had created in the basement, even a slightest slip during the brewing process could be lethal to him and probably anyone in the proximity of the house. And if someone as much as caught a sniff of what he was doing he could get an one-way ticket straight to the most notorious prison in the whole wizarding world, Azcaban. Besides... No amount of gold could stop him from realizing that these potions weren´t just something potentially dangerous. They were downright evil. Not that Severus could claim to have high moral standards. He still tried to care a little, if only to prove himself that Lily´s decision to abandon him had been wrong.

Severus didn´t need to think long before wording his refusal.

Mr. Black was appalled. At first he didn´t believe that Severus was serious. Then he tried to convince him, but when Severus didn´t sway from his decision, he tried to use the same method that had convinced the boy for the first time: threatening. The young potions genius was insulted, when the older wizard brought his underage magic into discussion. How easy to manipulate the man actually thought him to be?

"Then I will tell that you threatened a teenager into brewing ministry regulated potions", Severus snapped.

"Do you think, boy, that anyone in the ministry would believe a filthy half-blood brat over the lord of the ancient house of Black?" Mr. Black chuckled. He caressed his mustache and grinned to his words in self-satisfaction.

Severus stared him coldly. "Who said anything about ministry? I meant your wife, Mr. Black."

Severus used Mr. Black´s momentary loss of words to his advantage and slipped out from the room. He was determined to avoid Regulus´s father for the rest of the day.

/

Severus`s foul mood was immediately obvious to Regulus. The tutoring had become much more bearable for both of them after they had started the joined Paint Potion Project on Severus´s suggestion. (The name of the project was solely Regulus´s invention. Severus refused to have anything to do with it...). Their relationship had slowly changed from that of a teacher and student to that of two co-researchers. Now, they both shared their ideas and enthusiasm with each other but also valued highly each other´s areas of specialty. Regulus had to admit that the new approach had been fruitful. His learning had practically sky-rocketed. Impressing Walburga couple of days ago had proved it.

The older boy had became more patient with Regulus after coming to a conclusion that his student actually had a good head on his shoulders (at least when he felt motivated to use it). Today Severus, however, was beyond irritable and snapped to Regulus for any small reason. At first, Regulus had tried to ask about it, but his tutor´s answers were evasive at their best. Besides, his inquiries seemed to only serve to further anger the other boy.

"Maybe you just feel stiff, Severus. We both could do with some exercise after spending so much time inside", Regulus suggested gently.

Severus rolled his eyes and was about to grab another book, but Regulus quickly snatched it from his fingertips. He bravely kept his ground in front of his tutor´s glare. The older boy looked ready to bite his head off. Regulus had, however, already learned that Severus´s anger was usually not as lethal as it seemed. He surprised even himself by flashing Severus a playful grin. "Severus. I have an idea. We should use the floo connection to get to my family´s personal garden in Wales. I know just the right thing for some exercise and to get your thoughts off from whatever is on your mind."

Severus looked unimpressed.

"It involves some broom sticks stuck between buttocks", Regulus revealed shyly but a small teasing smirk on his lips.

His tutor batted his eyelids while comprehending what Regulus had just said. He scoffed. "What a joke. Neither of us is a broom brained jock."

Regulus´s smile just widened. "Well, I wonder... Do you even know, who is the seeker and captain of Slytherin Quiddich team right now?"

Severus scowled and Regulus saw that he was already fed with the guessing game.

Regulus pointed at himself and tried to keep from chuckling. Severus´s eyes widened.

"YOU?! Don´t bother joking, Regulus. You can hold your own in a conversation about the conflicting nature of shrinking potions. I can´t fathom why someone like you would endanger breaking his neck by charging after freaking flying balls in some stupid game on brooms! And with that build? Not going to happen."

Regulus humbly shrugged his shoulders. "Not all Quiddich players are muscle builders, Severus. Seekers tend to be of lighter built. More aerodynamic that way. And having brain isn´t actually a hindrance in playing quiddich, no matter what you think." Then he couldn´t help but laugh. "Severus, you are likely the only Slytherin who doesn´t even know who is in our house team. Quiddich is supposed to play an important part in house integrity. When was the last time, you watched a game?" he teased.

Severus frowned. "My second year. Lily forced me to come." He thought a moment before adding gloomily: "Slytherin lost miserably."

Regulus shook his head. He searched a bag of floo powder into one hand and grabbed Severus´s arm with the other. Then he began to drag the boy towards the fire place in the living room despite his tutor´s loud objections.

"No. No, it´s not going to happen. I don´t fly", Severus put against, but Regulus just smiled.

"You don´t fly, Severus? What a lie. Every wizard flies on a broom. I´ve heard, that even muggles know that."

"Well, I DON`T."

"It can´t be that you are afraid? I heard a rumor that you fell from a broom quite badly during your first flying lesson."

Severus blushed with anger. "It was because of your idiot brother and Potter. They thought that it would be a great prank to curse my broom."

"You haven´t tried it since then?"

Severus shrugged annoyed.

"You are missing a lot. Do you really plan to let Marauders have this over you? To deny you the feeling of flying forever? Because they got you so afraid of flying that..."

"I´m not afraid!" Severus snapped.

"Prove it then?" Regulus suggested innocently.

They were now at the fireplace and Severus had just realized that he had played straight into younger boy´s hands.

"You scheming snake!" he accused through coughs triggered by the smoke as Regulus pushed him into green flames of the hearth.

"Oh, thank you, Severus", Regulus answered with delight, "I´m a Slytherin for a reason, you know."

Then he packed himself in the hearth with his tutor and pronounced clearly: "Hunter´s hut, Evermoors!"


	14. Chapter 14

**Thanks a lot for the review it encouraged me to work on this sooner :)**

 **-EveryJohn**

The world blurred and then swirled very fast. A little later Severus found himself in an uncomfortable position in a narrow place. He felt a bit nauseated. Regulus´s feet were almost in his mouth, not helping the matter. It took a while for both boys to worm themselves out of the hearth.

Severus stood up first and took a look around. They were in some kind of a cabin. It had a small bed and a wooden table surrounded by a couple of wooden chairs. The small room had only one window. Bright daylight shone through white lace curtains and was reflected from the clean wooden floor. The curtains, light as spider silk, swayed slightly in a breeze coming from somewhere. Crisp odor of wood rosin floated in the air.

Severus felt like he had just stepped in a picture book or a dream. The unreal feeling only increased when they moved outside. The combination of maroon walls and cute, white window frames reminded him eerily of a gingerbread house. To get rid of the illusion, Severus touched the wall. He felt the roughness of wood against his palm and was relieved to know that, at least, no-one had tried to create a real life version of the stupid house made of sweets, famous from the muggle fairy tales.

The afternoon sun shone high on the blue sky, warming the perfectly kept grass of a wide field. Couple of gentle white clouds floated to the distant horizon. The high buzz of the grasshoppers carried from meadows growing on the sides of the field. The meadow area reached all the way down to a riverbed where the slow flow of a clear watered stream washed small rocks and bigger stones. Running water gave a calming background tune to the afternoon. The meadow still continued on the other side of the river, climbing up the riverbed, until it finally met an uneven line of young trees. Those young trees eventually changed to bigger and older ones, finally marking a beginning of an ancient forest. Fluttering and glittering fairies swirled in air, popping in and out from colorful wild flowers. The air was full of their flirtatious laugh. White daisies, purple clovers and red poppies, among with many other traditional meadow flowers, blended with numerous magical plants that Severus remembered from herbology lessons. The soil of this place had to be thick with magic, he realized in amazement.

Regulus, who had stepped out from the hut right after him, returned quickly inside. He soon came back with two brooms.

"It´s been ages since I´ve had someone to fly with on a summer holiday! I´m sure, that this is going to be fun, Severus", he told Severus enthusiastically.

"Good for you, Black. I, on the other hand, am still sure that this is an awfully stupid idea", Severus grumbled mutinously.

Not bothered by his negativity, Regulus offered one of the brooms to Severus. He rose his eyebrows. "You admit that you are afraid and I will let you pass this?"

Severus´s eyes flashed.

"Well, I´m not!" he growled and snatched the broom. He marched to the field, the broom in hand. There he, however began to hesitate once again.

"Put it to ground. Stand next to it and command: 'Up!' It should jump straight to your hand", Regulus advised.

"I know that", Severus snarled, but did as the younger boy suggested. The broom first seemed to hesitate and then it sponged to his hand with such a force that Severus almost fell to his bottom. Regulus tried to hide his smile.

"What are you ogling!?"

"Next, just mount it, Severus. And when you´re ready, lean a bit forward."

Severus did as Regulus told, feeling increasingly uncomfortable. The broom was a standard one, quite old and not as fast as the newest models, but very stable to fly and easy to direct. He imagined Regulus and Sirius practicing their flying before Hogwarts and during the summer holidays of their first school years when the brothers had still gotten along. They had been in this same place with the same brooms. Sun had probably kept shining and they had laughed loudly and competed playfully against each other.

"Now, kick the ground, Severus. Gently."

Regulus´s happy tone made Severus scowl. His mouth was dry and he felt completely ridiculous for what he was trying to attempt. 'All wizards fly on a broom'. What kind of cursed idiot had come up with that! He would like to skin that person, pulverize him and cast his remains to a boiling cauldron of Potter´s attempt on Amortentia...

Resignedly Severus kicked the ground and the broom rose couple of feet into air. He with it.

"You are doing well!" Regulus cheered. Severus was tempted to use a well known muggle sign of the longest finger of his hand, but restrained himself. Partly because it would probably be waste of effort (a pure-blood such as Regulus was unlikely to recognize the insult). Mostly it was, however, because he liked to keep all of his fingers tightly around the broom stick.

"Now, pull the broom slowly towards yourself so that you can gain some height..." Regulus´s voice advised. Severus barely heard it from his thundering heartbeats but tried to do as asked. The broom jumped forward with alarming speed. Severus closed his eyes. The scenes of his first flying lesson replayed in his mind.

 _He had been nervous and excited. Many of his class mates were from rich wizarding homes and had been flying on toy brooms since age of four or something._

 _It hadn´t been especially easy or elegant but he had gotten on the broom at the same time with the others. He had been just a couple of feet from the ground and was about to turn to Lily to exchange relieved encouragements. Suddenly, the broom dashed forward in full speed. It made deadly flips and turns. Severus could only drag along and hold for his dear life. Severus had heard Madam Hooch yelling at him to lean back and turn the broom to ground, but nothing he did had had any effect. Instead, other children and Madam Hooch had been rapidly receding and turning to small dots underneath him._

 _Severus remembered being sure that he would die. He had bawled like a baby. Then the broom managed to get rid of him and he felt himself falling. Madam Hooch´s spell had caught him in time. He was left hovering stupidly in the air until eventually being safely returned to the ground. Then he had been severely reprimanded by worried madam Hooch for not obeying her orders. Severus had tried to explain through his tears and embarrassment that the broom hadn´t listened him. Eventually the teacher had decided that she needed to get the broom checked. The school brooms were quite old after all._

 _No-one except Severus had noticed, when James Potter winked his eye to Sirius Black and tugged his wand back to his robes. Potter had been excused from the lesson because of a bruised ankle. He had come to watch his friends. According to him Severus (or "Snivellius" as he already called him) had made the flying lesson much more interesting._

 _'He must have tried to help you', Lily had said and avoided his eyes, when he had told her that he had seen a wand in Potter´s hand._

 _Worst part of the incident had been, that his housemates, who had not liked a weird half-blood from the beginning, had seen his tears. After that, there had been no end to their ridicule. Snivellius... That disgusting nick name had been cemented to stone after that day._

"Severus... Severus!" He heard Regulus´s voice as if from somewhere far away, but now that he thought about it the voice actually seemed to come right next to him. He forced himself to open his eyes. Worried brown eyes of the younger boy preened him closely. Regulus was hovering with his broom only five feet from him.

"Just straighten your back and lean a bit backwards and the broom will slow down or even stop, Severus", he suggested kindly. Severus tried to hide his embarrassment and did that. It worked. The broom slowed down until he was flying around the field, couple of feet above the ground, with a speed barely faster than walking.

When Regulus noticed that Severus was beginning to feel comfortable, he smiled to him and was just about to say something when a ball of feathers catapulted through the air towards them. Severus let out, admittedly, quite a girlish shriek as he tried to avoid it. He ended up losing his balance, slowly slipping from his broom. He flapped his arms erratically as a last attempt to avoid falling. Regulus tried to help Severus but somehow messed up and lost balance himself.

In the middle of it all, without either of the boys noticing, their brooms had drifted over the field and the meadow, all the way to the small river. Severus´s convulsive grip slipped as his strength vanished. Both boys fell straight to the river, giving out frightened screams.

Regulus´s dumbfounded face emerged from the cool water first. That was followed by coughing and cursing of Severus. Severus tried to get up, but his legs were still caught with Regulus´s limbs, which caused him to fall face flat to the water, once again.

Regulus offered him a hand to help him to riverbed and Severus griped it reluctantly. His long, wet hair was plastered to his skull. Dripping bangs hang over his burning eyes. He looked much like a demonic rat straight from the sewers. Regulus remembered Kreacher´s earlier taunt and couldn´t stop a small giggle. After a moment of silence and one more murderous glare from Severus, he couldn´t help it anymore but bent with a full blown fit of laughter, tears in his eyes.

"Tha-That was an owl, Severus! We were dropped by an owl!" Regulus laughed, holding his belly.

Severus scowled at him but then a drunkenly tottering boreal owl began to approach him in closing swirls. It´s feathers seemed a bit disheveled. Severus scoffed and helped the little creature by picking it up and ridding it from the message it was carrying. On the envelope was his name, written in curvy letters. Severus opened it and inside was some kind of an invitation.

"Dearest, Mr. Severus Snape.

Mr. and Mrs. Lestrange have a pleasure to invite You to the annual Buck moon Celebration.

The celebration takes place tomorrow on 31st of July at 5 pm., in Slymauls Mansion of the House of Lestrange. The banquet is held in the Gardens and is followed by a traditional dance ball.

Dress robes (White Tie)

The Arrival through floo is recommended", it read.

"It´s an... invitation. To a dance ball", Severus muttered. He looked the letter amazed and with a creeping suspicion that if he looked at it long enough something would reveal to him that it wasn´t real but some kind of prank or something. He had never been invited in this kind of events. He with his worn out robes and greasy hair was not one to be associated with fancy parties.

Regulus was honestly at least as surprised as Severus. He peeked the letter from behind of Severus´s shoulder. "Wow... It´s really from my cousin, Bellatrix", he marveled after a long silence.

"Why is she inviting you? I mean... this is good. Really good, Severus. But I can´t believe she is actually inviting you", he mumbled. Then he smirked. "Walburga has been talking nonstop about the Buck moon Celebration. How everyone important in the wizarding world will attend. How we need to dress up, so that the Black family will stand out to be admired and envied. What kinds of beverages and refreshments they will offer. And whether there will be an orchestra for music. And whether Margot is right and they have really captured a live siren for entertainment." Regulus rolled his eyes. "I would gladly stay home if I was allowed, but Walburga is adamant that I attend with her and Orion. Every year."

Regulus sensed Severus´s slight panic. "You definitely should go, Severus", he encouraged. "It is just as boring as you can imagine. Pompous pure-bloods gathering to showcast their recent achievements to each other. But The Buck Moon Celebration is also definitely one of the best ways to create important connections in wizarding world. That is the one thing that Walburga has right."

"I don´t even have frigging dress robes!"

Severus´s confession made Regulus thoughtful for a moment. The younger boy would have suggested buying his tutor the robes, if necessary, but he had already gotten to know his tutor well enough to know that the prideful half-blood would likely recline such an offer.

"We should talk to my mother. Orion has all too many dress robes, anyway. And there are even some leftovers of my brother... There is bound to be something that fits you among them."

Regulus saw that Severus was still unsure despite his suggestions.

"I don´t know, Regulus... I haven´t been in places like that before. And they even have a dance ball."

"You have been in Slug clubs Christmas balls, haven´t you? I saw you dancing with Lily in your fourth year and you did well enough. Besides, dancing isn´t that important. Talking and exchanging connections are the more important parts of the event", Regulus pointed out.

Severus frowned. "Some people would... show their displeasure... if they saw a half-blood there."

"Don´t worry about that, Severus. I can assure you that you are not the only half-blood getting an invitation. Those with muggle parents are still often discriminated, but those with a muggle grandparent and influential connections have gotten their invitations for years." Regulus smiled. "Besides, your name was on the letter, Severus. You were personally invited. And my cousin Bella..." Regulus sighed "...she usually does what she wants. She doesn´t take criticism from anyone." He seemed to hesitate, whether to say more. "You will get what I mean, if you meet her. If she invited you, she wants you to participate. And... If that doesn´t reassure you, then... Well, at least, I will be there with you."

He smiled reassuringly and Severus nodded reluctantly. Maybe. To be honest, he really needed to start building connections if he wished to make it somewhere after graduation.


	15. Chapter 15

Severus hesitated for a moment. Then he dared a fast look in the bathroom mirror. To his surprise, he looked rather good (at least for him). Orion´s old dress robes, weren´t latest fashion but the quality of the cloth was good and cutting classy. Sirius´s leftover salamander skin boots, felt incredibly soft to his feet. Severus had initially told Regulus´s mother very sternly that his clothing was his business and his only. The woman had snorted and stated: "Whether I personally like it or not, the other guests in the celebration will still associate you with our family. Unfortunately, the appearance of the lowest servant affects, how the whole household is perceived. As long as you work for my family, you will do as I say, Mr. Snape." Not much he could say to that. While living with the Blacks Severus had learned a thing or two. One of those was for sure, that there was no changing Walburga´s mind when it came to matters of conceitedness and showing off. (Severus was almost sure that in all silence the woman provided even Kreacher finest quality pillow covers.)

The image that now reflected from the mirror was hardly recognizable. Definitely a transformation worthy of being featured in Witch Weekly´s before and after -pictures, Severus thought glumly. He remembered the process that had led to this and could not stop himself from shivering with disgust. Today had been one of the most dreadful birthdays Severus had ever experienced. Everything had started inhumanly early with him being dragged out from his bed just to be roughly dropped into a hot bath that smelled disgustingly of lavender and some other herbs. To add on the humiliation, Kreacher had stood on guard next to the bathtub for the whole time. The house-elf had been strict and had not let him out before he had soaked in the odorous liquid for the time that Walbura required. After the bath, Severus´s black hair had been tampered with all kinds of hair products. After being rinsed and magicked dry, it now felt silk soft and shined like black onyx (and reeked of lavender...). With the house-elf´s strong suggestion Severus had tied his newly clean hair in a low ponytail with a black velvet ribbon. Then Kreacher had helped Severus into his dress robes. And for the honor of Merlin, the creature didn´t look any more pleased of that arrangement than Severus himself, but it was determined! After angrily buttoning the last silver buttons of his vest, it snarled with disdain and disapparited with a loud crack and a puff of white smoke.

/

After being left alone for a moment with his mirror image Severus finally got himself together. He slipped to the hallway. His plan was to go and see if he could find Regulus.

The move soon proved to be unwise, as Severus found himself walking straight into Walburga´s hands. The Lady of Black was talking with a young witch about some minor last minute adjustments to her dress robes. As soon as she spotted the scrawny teenager in the hallway, she shrieked out loudly: "Well now, this must be the first time I´ve seen you wearing something proper, Mr. Snape. Such a pity that the disgraceful nose of yours completely ruins the effort." She stared Severus´s face for a long while. His nose really seemed to bother her. She clicked her tongue. "Horribly unbalanced...", she muttered darkly. Then she shook her head and clearly fought against herself. Finally, she turned sharply on her heels and told Severus to wait.

Half an hour later later, a specialist from St. Mungo´s emerged from the main hearth of the Grimmauldplace. He was a bespectacled, balding man, who seemed to be on his seventies. After receiving Walburga´s brief summary of the situation, he immediately began to work. He seemed grumpy and was so reticent that came across almost rude. Without even introducing himself he checked Severus´s nose with a diagnostic spell. Then he scratched his head. He took a couple of potion vials out from the depths of his green robes and began to feed them to the teenager. Between the potions he ran a sequence of different spells. Finally he held his callused hand gently on his nose and mumbled softly a simple 'episkey'. To Severus´s surprise, at that point, that was all that was needed. The young wizard both heard and felt how the bones moved as his nose became settled to the from which it had last taken almost a decade ago. The man inspected his work carefully. After being sure that everything was as it should, he nodded with satisfaction. He received a heavy pouch of golden galleons from Walburga and was about to leave. Before throwing the floo-powder to the hearth, he, however, turned towards Severus once more.

"Be careful with that, boy", he said and tapped his own nose. "If you break it again, normal healing won´t do. I could maybe heal it again. But I don´t think that you posses such an amount of galleons. What I did, is not main stream healing. These kind of old injuries are almost impossible to heal. When you do almost impossible it is very expensive, naturally..." He looked at Severus for several seconds. Then he huffed and took his wand out once again. He hesitated for a moment but performed then one more spell to Severus´s face. This time, Severus felt his teeth move in his mouth as they settled better. Then he felt something like a cold breeze travelling inside his mouth. The spell was whitening his teeth.

The man turned to Walburga and shrugged. "The last thing was on the house. After all that hard work, couldn´t really leave the boy half done...But we two are now settled for good, Walburga." He brandished his bony forefinger to Walburga. "You better not bother me again, Lady of Black."

Then the peculiar, but obviously very skilled wizard stepped to the fireplace. He was gone almost as soon as he had appeared.

"It seems true that right clothes and proper grooming can make a wizard out of a scarecrow", Walburga stated after scrutinizing Severus´s face carefully. It was impossible to not notice the thorn in her words, but at the same time she looked oddly impressed. Severus thought sourly to himself that even magic and money together couldn´t probably accomplish making someone like him handsome. Still he didn´t deny that there had been room for improvement.

/

The Blacks and Severus had decided to gather together in the living room shortly before the floo-travel. Severus was curious as he hadn´t seen Regulus on the whole day. He had suspected that the young heir had been put through his own set of preparations. Now that they finally saw each other, his suspicion was confirmed true both by Regulus´s extravagant attire and weary expression. Severus own dress robes were elegant but simple compared to his. It was easy to see that his attire was designed and handmade on special request. It was black. (Severus remembered Walburga´s reaction to being recommended, for a change, something else instead of traditional black. He was sure that the young dressmaker witch remembered it as well and the subject had never been brought up again.) A dark green necktie adorned Regulus´s slender neck. It was kept on it´s place by a simple but beautiful tie-tack that was designed to look like a single silver tear drop. The cuff-links In Regulus´s sleeves were like silver eyes with emerald irises and in the back of his black robes was a large silver embroidery depicting a raven, the bird of the Blacks. A beautiful, black dagger belt surrounded his waist, but the silver dagger itself was out of it´s holster as Regulus seemed to be studying it carefully at the moment.

Truthfully, at that point, Severus had mostly forgotten how much his own appearance had changed since their last meeting. He was, however, quickly reminded of that as Regulus´s dramatic reaction was hard to miss. The younger boy rose his eyes after hearing his tutor´s voice and immediately dropped the ceremonious silver dagger from his hands. Walburga gritted her teeth as metallic clang echoed from the walls, but his son didn´t seem to notice. Regulus had frozen to his place in the middle of turning around. His face was red and he blinked rapidly. Then he stuttered apologies to everyone but avoided looking straight to Severus. A moment later he, however, tried to sneak a peek while throwing floo-powder to the hearth and managed to accidentally inhale quite a bit of it. He could not stop coughing for a long while.

Severus rolled his eyes. Only Regulus would put that much effort into keeping his face straight and not saying anything. That kind of weird courtesy, was so typical of the young pure-blood.

/

After a short floo-travel Severus found himself and the Blacks in the reception hall of the Slymauls Mansion.

Colored daylight shone from large mosaic windows up above and revealed several skillfully crafted wall-paintings. The light also brought out the majestic shapes of the huge stone pillars that carried the weight of the remarkably high ceiling. The stone floor on which they stood was covered with luxurious, purple carpets. The place had both mystic and dignified atmosphere.

For some reason, the hall reminded Severus of a medieval church, which his old muggle class had once visited during a rare fiend trip. Except, in the front, near the continuously flashing fireplaces, where an altar would normally be, stood two very large statues of Herbidean Black dragons. The statues looked authentic and truly terrific with their opened wings and embedded amethyst eyes. Severus noted that the dragons´s were chiseled from the palest marble he had ever seen but in the blazing light of four active hearths the white stone appeared pale green.

Right next to the statues waited patiently at least ten attentive house elves, ready to welcome the continuous flow of guests. One of the house elves approached Severus and the Blacks almost immediately after their arrival. It bowed so deeply that its bald head almost swiped the ground and introduced itself as Lippy. It told them, that it would soon lead them to the Strange Gardens where the banquet was held. Before that it, however, wanted to tell them that Lady herself had personally assigned it to serve them during the festivities and if there was anything at all that they needed, they only needed to call its name. It continued informing them that after the banquet the guests would be led back to the mansion where dancing would take place. Finally, at the end of the evening when they wished to leave, they only needed to call its name and it would apparite them to home or alternatively lead them back to the floo-connected hearths of the reception hall. "The garden and the mansion are warded against apparition during the celebration. Lord and Lady didn´t want to have uninvited guests and and as there are lots of refreshments available and some of the guests are underage they also opted for the safer option instead of apparition", the creature explained. It pronounced words more clearly and spoke more profoundly than Kreacher or any other house-elf Severus had ever met before.

"Lord and Lady Black, be heartily welcome. Young lord, too, and Mr. Snape. Please, follow Lippy to the Garden. Lippy shall lead you all to your table", it suggested and waved for them to follow.

The Blacks and Severus were guided through a most beautiful flourishing garden. The fragrant smell of roses, hydrangeas and several other garden flowers was almost intoxicating. Old ash and chestnut trees stood tall, casting comfortable, cool shadows on a wide field. Different kinds of fruit-trees with fruits in various states of ripeness grew alongside a narrow path of cobblestone that lead further in the gardens. Apple, plum, pear.

The house elf shew them to their places. The Blacks had seats at the center-most table, which was reserved for the most notorious guests and where the host and hostess of the banquet would eventually be seated. That didn´t exactly surprise Severus. The Blacks were certainly a famous and influential pure-blood family if there was one, and they were also relatives of Mrs. Lestrange. What surprised him, however, was that there was a seat reserved for him in the same table with them. He had expected to be split from the Blacks at this point and directed into a different table. Walburga´s nettled face told him that she had thought the same, but his son was openly delighted to sit next to his tutor.

On Severus´s right side sat already an elderly wizard who stood up to exchange greetings. He introduced himself as Kastor Dimas and told them that he worked as a traveling magizoologist. He had just returned to the Great Britain after a long time overseas. After hearing that Severus and Regulus were still students he wanted to know about their studies in Hogwarts. Walburga was cold but polite towards him and eagerly let Severus and Regulus take responsibility of conversing with him. She herself was already engaged in a heated discussion with her good friend, Margaret Greengrass. (Severus heard them criticizing other guest´s dress robes and overall style.) Orion, true to himself, had already disappeared somewhere long before the host and hostess welcomed the guests and opened the banquet.

 **So... Severus got a facelift (Kind of...). I haven´t decided yet if it´s going to be permanent.** **This chapter was hard but fun to write. I had to try my best to describe Slymauls Mansion and the Strange Gardens (And Merlin knows, I´ve never been in a big banquet...). But please, be so good and tell me what you think about it! :)**

 **-everyJohn**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hi! Thank you so much for the encouraging feedback. It seems like some of you are really waiting for Bellatrix to appear in the story. I´m sorry to say that you need to be patient for a little while longer... (The chapter that comes after this one will be mostly about her, I promise ;D)**

 **-EveryJohn**

 **P.S. BlackBatsandCats, I really like your theory about Severus´s father! I´m not going quite to that direction, but I too have a very intriguing background story in mind... When I get a chance, I will definitely write about it and then you can tell me your opinion :)**

Regulus suggested for them to have a short walk in the garden before the dessert was being served. The younger boy had told Severus about a beautiful water fountain, which he remembered finding on one of the earlier Buck Moon Celebrations and they decided to see if they could find it again.

As they left, they passed a table where their housemates Avery and Rosier were seated with their family members. Severus saw the Slytherins whispering and pointing at him and Regulus. "Who is that? At first I thought that Sirius had finally recovered from his insanity and had returned to the Grimmauld place and Mrs. Black had decided to forgive him for some only Merlin knows reason, but that was before I saw his face... He does look somehow familiar though, doesn´t he?"

"Could he be some distant cousin? He could even be a foreigner. But I haven´t ever seen Regulus discussing with anyone that vividly. Did you see, that Mr. Stoneface was joking and laughing? I wasn´t sure that he was capable of that..."

Regulus had obviously heard their words and shook from restrained giggles. He was hiding his face behind his robe sleeve. Severus shook his head. What on earth were they talking about? Regulus laughed like an idiot for the stupidest reasons.

"Should we introduce ourselves? He must be important to be seated in the same table as Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband."

"Do you think he goes to Ilvermorny or, Durmstrang or some other wizarding school? He looks like he is about our age... We would have met him if he attended Hogwarts. Even if he was a couple of years above us, I would certainly remember him."

Severus sincerely hoped that Avery and Rosier would forget their polite manners this time. He missed their company approximately as much as James Potter´s and Sirius Black´s. The situation looked bad, though, when they both began to stand up, their eyes locked on him and Regulus. Severus grabbed Regulus´s shoulder and they hastily sneaked away.

/

It felt natural to Severus and Regulus walk in comfortable silence. Blabbering voices from the tables receded little by little and were slowly taken over by the faint blow of wind, happy chirping of birds and lazy hum of bumblebees. Severus heard a quiet unearthly song carrying from somewhere deeper in the garden. At first it was so faint that he blamed his imagination. The sound, however, got louder and clearer the more they walked.

Regulus told him that they should soon reach the fountain if it still was on the same place. They walked even slower and began to crane their necks but thick plantation limited their view. After turning from a corner, Severus saw two shapes that were talking underneath a group of apple trees. He stopped walking after recognizing one of the people as Alaric Mulciber, a Slytherin in his year at school.

The self-proclaimed junior Deatheater was flirting with a girl in Regulus´s year at school, Betty-Ann Burke. The girl was also in Slytherin and from an old pure-blood family. She was slightly crosseyed and, from what Severus knew, her head was as empty as the school library during the yearly quidditch finals. The girl worshipped Mulciber, but Severus wasn´t sure if these two should be considered a couple. They sure spent enough time together. He was also positive, that Betty-Ann Burke thought them to be in love, but from Severus´s point of view it looked like Mulciber only used her when it was convenient and the girl let it happen. Severus frowned. Sometimes he pitied the girl. (It wasn´t Betty-Ann Burke´s fault that she suffered from chronic lack of brain cells.) Her high pitched meaningless laughter at anything and everything that popped out from Mulciber´s mouth was, however, enough to cancel all of his kind thoughts.

"Oo, Alaric! Don´t go near it. Oh my! It´s so creepy! I can´t look!" the girl cackled happily as a child, and hid her eyes behind her hands, still curiously looking through her fingers. They were looking at the opposite direction from Severus and Regulus, but it was unclear what they saw as dense bushes covered the view.

Then Mulciber noticed Severus and Regulus approaching and abandoned whatever he was doing. He walked towards them with confident strides. "Young lord of Black, Regulus Black! It is a pleasure to meet you outside the Hogwarts." He offered his hand for a handshake. "And who is your companion?" He turned to Severus, a slick smile on his lips.

"You know me well enough, Mulciber", Severus answered silkily.

Mulciber almost jumped. He recognized the voice immediately. "S-Snape? Really?" His shocked expression rose a thin smirk on Severus´s lips.

"Yes. He has been living in Grimmauldplace since the summer holidays began. He was personally invited by my cousin Bellatix Lestrange", Regulus answered sharply.

Mulciber recovered fast. Soon he already acted as if he had known, who Severus was all along. He glared at him ill-humoredly. "I don´t even fathom to know, what your cousin had in her mind, Black, when she invited a half blood in the celebration! And Snape, are you sure you haven´t had some kind of a misunderstanding? This is not supposed to be a masquerade and still you have such a thick layer of charms that you are hardly recognizable", he sneered.

Betty-Ann Burke chuckled nervously, but it was clear that she made it out of habit, not because he actually understood Mulciber´s clumsy taunt. Severus smiled icily and didn´t dignify the boy with an answer. Actually, he was not using any charms. Using charms was against Walburga´ s principles. He had heard Regulus´s mother compare witches, who used charms to modify their appearance, to people who wore ratty underwear underneath fancy dresses. Horribly distasteful! (Besides there was certain unfortunate drawback in charms usage: One ´finite incantatem´, accidental or purposeful, could cause very embarrassing situations...)

Mulciber was by far Severus´s least favorite Slytherin. Yes, an year older Rosier was a total psychopath but at least he was handsome and clever. Avery, on the other hand, was an egoistic womanizer but his rough jokes were sometimes quite funny (mostly accidentally though). The third of the group, Travers, who he was yet to see in the banquet, was a loudmouthed moron, but harmless without the other three. Mulciber, on the other hand, personified everything loathsome in their house, everything real and everything that the other houses thought them to be.

Almost as if summoned by Severus´s thoughts, Rosier and Avery appeared from the same corner where Severus and Regulus had just turned from. After spotting them, they walked closer. Avery greeted Mulciber happily and Regulus more reservedly. Then he turned to Severus. "If I´m not completely wrong, we are yet to be introduced. A pleasure to meet you. My name is Charles Avery. One of the sacred twenty-eight." Avery gave Severus a natural smile as he extended his hand towards him.

"Don´t you stupid bludgerheads see! It´s the dungeon bat! No-one else but greasy Snivellus Snape", Mulciber snapped not able to look at it silently.

Avery withdrew his hand in surprise. "Severus? No way..." He frowned and looked Severus up and down. Then he looked to Mulciber and then back to Severus again.

Severus sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes. It is me. And extremely delightful to meet you too, young lord of Avery", he spattered with monotonous voice. Regulus snickered.

Avery rose his eyebrows comically and looked at Rosier. "He is awfully less greasy than in my memories. Did you recognize him, Evan?"

Rosier, who had looked thoughtful, smirked. "Of course. How could I not know our own little dungeon bat!"

Avery smacked him playfully. "You are awful liar, Evan. You thought that he was studying in Ilvermorny or Durmstrang!"

"I just played along to see how far I could take it, Charles."

"Where is Travers?" Severus interrupted. Avery was rarely seen without his best friend.

"Timothy? Travers has horrible luck. Happened to get pixiepox, couple of days before the Celebration. He is in bed right now. Probably has itchy blisters all over", Avery told them cheerily.

"Hopefully it is nothing serious", Regulus put in concernedly. Some diseases like dragonpox could take down even strongest wizards and every year there were some casualties.

"Nah. Like I said, he is probably just horribly itchy. And at least his family has money for hospital bills if St. Mungo´s seems necessary. Imagine a busty mediwitch, one for each hand, taking care of you and making your every wish come true..." He smirked lewdly "Timothy could luck out. Though those blisters would be a slight turn off..." He winked. "Besides, Timothy is not alone. Your cousin forbade the whole family from coming in fear of infection spreading among the guests." He shrugged. "But what were you doing when we arrived? I thought that I heard music..." While still finishing his sentence, Avery took a step towards the water fountain. He pushed past the bushes to check what it was that Mulciber and the girl had been so keenly looking at. He whistled in surprise.

Now the others could also see it. A magnificent creature sat in the middle of water sprayers. From hip upwards it´s body was that of a beautiful maiden, but it´s lower body consisted of a feathered belly, which glittered wet from the water of the fountain. A little lower, where human´s knees would have been, brown feathers changed to callused light yellow bird legs with huge black talons. Both of beast´s legs had shackles around ankles. Those chained the creature to a huge stone pillar in the middle of the water fountain and strictly limited it´s movements. Beast´s shoulders were those of a girl, but from arms downward they turned to huge brown wings. It´s face was that of a beautiful girl with brown, curly hair. Only it´s chin was slightly pointier, it´s ears a little elvish, it´s white teeth surprisingly sharp and it´s beautiful huge cat´s eyes amber in color. And of course it´s bare white breasts and rosy pink nipples captured the eyes of the teenage boys (especially Avery´s).

"A live harpy", Severus gacked hardly believing what he was seeing. Whatever he had expected to find in the Strange Gardens, not this. Real, full-blooded water harpies were rare, almost extinct. Their feathers and nails were still used in some ancient potions, though in more common potions ingredients like that had been replaced by cheaper ones long since.

The harpy was singing. Severus recognized the same unearthly song he had heard faintly earlier in the peace of the garden. Its voice mingled with the gentle roar of the streaming water. It was like jingling of silver bells. Like numerous stars against dark velvet sky of a freezing winter night.

Severus noticed that he could distinguish actual human words meddled with the singing, when he listened very carefully. It was difficult to make any sense of the words as the voice got louder and then more quiet in intervals like crashing waves that relentlessly hit a coast. Still, the longer Severus listened, the more he began to suspect that at least parts of it if not the whole song was actually a repeat of something that the creature had once heard or witnessed. He remembered reading from somewhere that like a parrot mimics human speech Harpies recorded their experiences in their songs.

This was how Severus heard a part of the harpy´s song:

"Black bedrock under his feet felt cold.

To his friend, he told:

'The island is empty. Nothing to see.

Even trees are dead.'

And so was he.

Pale, silent, suddenly gone.

Met his end on the island of Sorrow Stone.

His friend, he tried to flee

Fear on his heels, in front was the sea.

Silence drowned the waves and wind.

He was taken by shadows.

No-one ever found him.

Pale, silent, suddenly gone.

Met his end on the island of Sorrow Stone."

The song, if he interpreted it right, was downright creepy, giving him shivers.

Then something else caught Severus´s attention. The amber eyes of the creature shined feverishly. Its big wings shook slightly in the warm evening.

"This harpy... it is starved", Severus seethed. From the looks of the creature it had not been fed in weeks. The sheer desperation forced the creature to use it´s natural hunting technique, singing. The harpy sang in hopes of attracting some food. To think that torturing an ancient beast was someone´s understanding of good entertainment or "background music"... Severus felt a bile rising in his mouth.

Not everyone in their small group felt the same.

Mulciber laughed nastily and suggested a game. "Avery, Rosier... What do you say about a little bet? Who of us dares to go nearest the beast?"

Mulciber´s girl looked scared when she heard his suggestion. She glanced nervously to the creature. "Eh, Alaric... I-I don´t think, it is a good idea..." she mumbled and licked her lips. Severus thought that he should upgrade Betty-Ann Burke´s intelligence in his mind, for that statement alone.

Mulciber, of course, ignored her. "Well, what do you say? Avery? Rosier?"

"I´m in. I want to touch its tits", Avery promised without hesitation.

"I´m in, too... But only if you are the first one to try. And only if we make decent bets..." Rosier agreed with a sly grin.

Severus shook his head. "Even you three can´t be that stupid that you think that the creature is tame just because it´s restrained?"

"No-one asked for your opinion, muggle offspring. You wouldn´t have any money to bet, anyway!" Mulciber shouted.

Severus rose his hands up in front of such stubborn idiocy. He shrugged his shoulders. "Yes and I´m sure that the harpy really appreciates that you offer it your precious pure blood instead of my filthy one", he mumbled to himself.

"Two hundred galleons if I touch the water spray of the fountain and you don´t repeat it", Mulciber offered, pointedly ignoring Severus´s sarcasm.

Avery shrugged and Rosier smirked: "Only if you really touch it. And if you don´t... it will be known that you are all talk, Mulciber."

/

Soon, Mulciber already neared the harpy with confident strides. He turned around to wink his eye to nervous Betty-Ann Burke.

Severus had been about to leave, but when Regulus lingered, he too was forced to watch. Severus could have pointed the exact moment when harpy´s song took a hold on the young Slytherin´s mind. Mulciber was just a couple of feet away from the fountain and had stepped into the low water of the pool surrounding it. His gaze turned glassy. His confident strides changed to slower ones. He didn´t turn to look at his friends anymore. His grinning ceased. The starved creature leaned forward and Mulciber reached towards it in some kind of a trance.

Severus himself felt hypnotized. It felt unreal and fascinating. He knew that something terrible was about to happen, but it felt like he was watching a muggle car wreck from afar. He had to rip himself off to act. Severus witnessed in horror as harpy´s beautiful womanlike face melted into long sharp peak, which ripped from the middle into two halves, both of which were filled with tiny razor sharp teeth. He leaped forward and pushed Mulciber from peak´s path. In the nick of time. The peak pierced the air like a spear right where Mulciber´s neck had just been.

The harpy noticed that it had lost it´s prey and let out a horrible high-pitched scream of frustration. The blood in their veins froze over. They didn´t know it but even the gentry dining and discussing at the dinner tables, far away from there, stood up from their chairs to look around, when they heard the sound. The scream left the five boys and Betty-Ann Burke shaky. After the yell finally quieted, it was so silent that Betty-Ann´s weak sniff came out loud. Then, to Severus´s horror, one of the creature´s shackles crumbled to pieces.

The harpy was not free but it had a bit wider range to move. Severus dove towards groggy Mulciber, who had stayed death still on all fours in the water. He saw Regulus rushing forward towards them to help. Then he felt a sharp talon to curl around his leg. He turned around to meet the amber eyes. For a moment it looked really bad. Then he heard a voice. "Incarcerous!" The creature was dragged backwards with ropes that appeared from thin air and Severus´s leg became free. Without hesitation, he dove from the creatures reach. Severus turned around to see his savior and was surprised to meet Kastor Dimas, the magizooloist, who had sat next to him and Regulus earlier in the banquet.

Severus was about to say something, but was interrupted by Mulciber´s angry spout: "What the cursed, Severus! What did you slimy idiot do?!" The angry Slytherin scrambled to his feet. He shoved Severus with a force that made the half-blood fall to his bottom. Severus glared the idiot darkly from the ground.

Regulus had enough with pure-blood´s attitude problem. He stepped forward, lips pressed into a thin stubborn line, and face white from earlier scare. The young Black pushed Mulciber away. "The person, who you just called an idiot, saved your stupid ass from certain death, Alaric Mulciber!" His voice was soft, only a tiny bit strained, but Severus was familiar with the small, red spots on his cheeks and knew the controlled rage raving inside his student.

"Maybe Mr. Mulciber tries to say that that exactly is the reason why Mr. Snape should be called an idiot... " Mr. Dimas wondered calmly, cocking an eyebrow. He gave Severus his hand to help him back to his feet. Then he muttered thoughtfully: "I must admit that I am honestly curious of your decision to endanger your life, young man. I thought that you claimed to be Slytherin...?"

Severus looked to the ground. Faint shade of red had crept on his face and neck. His voice was dry when he claimed: "Three reasons, Mr. Dimas. Firstly... I still think that all blood, no matter how pure, is best, not witnessed very closely. Especially if you are wearing expensive clothing..." He glared Mulciber with hostility and cast a drying spell on his wet dressrobes. "Secondly, it is entirely possible for the ministry to ignore that the three idiots caused the situation themselves. It would be a pity if an almost extinct creature would be put down for the sake of your death, Mulciber. And thirdly..." He smirked evilly. "Mulciber´s macabre death would seriously interfere with the festive atmosphere tonight, don´t you think, sir?"

Kastor Dimas was amused by his curt answer but Mulciber would have charged at Severus if Avery hadn´t restrained him. Mr. Dimas turned towards Mulciber. He looked the youngster sternly and pointed his forefinger to him. "You, Mr. Alaric Mulciber, should keep in your mind that your magic could react very badly if you attempted to harm a person to whom you own a life debt."

Then he turned around flapping his dress robes. "Now, Mr. Snape, Mr. Black... I suggest that we return to the table. I wish to continue our discussion from earlier. Especially Mr. Snape´s theory of using opposing agents to stabilize an antivenom potion was interesting. I would be glad to hear more about it. Besides, we still have dessert to eat and then we are supposed to move into the reception hall where the dance ball is held. The garden is to be emptied from guests for the rest of the evening."


	17. Chapter 17

**There it finally is. Bellatrix makes an appearance! She is an interesting character. I have no idea if I managed to capture even somewhat her unpredictable and obsessive temperament. My Bellatrix is younger than in the books (she has not spent over ten years in Azcaban...). She may seem less insane, but maybe it is just that she puts more effort into concealing it...**

 **Thank you, for the kind reviews! :) I tried to correct some of the language mistakes in the first chapter. I will do the same with some of the later chapters when I have time.**

 **-EveryJohn**

For the whole evening, Bellatrix Lestrange´s eyes had inconspicuously trailed after a certain young half-blood. She was curious. The name, Severus Snape, had never before seemed important to her. She, of course, vaguely remembered a dark-haired, geeky, firstie, who wore horrible rags as clothes, from Hogwarts. She had been in her last year and had put effort into remembering at least the names and important family connections of every new student in Slytherin, no matter how insignificant. Truthfully, the Snape boy had left neither strong nor pleasant impression.

She could recall hearing dirty jokes about this Slytherin in later years. Apparently, two years ago, the boy had been moping around after being dumped by his quite stunning but sadly mudblood girlfriend. 'How pathetic', she remembered herself thinking.

Then, two months ago, seemingly out of blue, Master had began to talk with fascination about a sixth year Slytherin called Snape. At first, he had only mentioned him briefly and said something about him being quite promising candidate for a deatheater.

Bellatrix had subtly asked around and had heard from various sources that, first of all, Severus Snape had very unpleasant personality. The boy was also infamous for being in bad terms both with the Gryffindors and his own housemates. Everyone, whom she had interviewed, were, however, unanimous about a couple of things: Even though Snape was piss poor half-blood and therefore on the lowest social ladder in the Slytherin, he was also undeniably brilliant in potions and wicked good in spells craft.

Boy´s muggle upbringing was a clear disadvantage in pure-blood dominated society. Being poor didn´t help the matters. Bellatrix wouldn´t have been too surprised if the boy had appeared in the Buckmoon Celebration in faded school robes or, even worse, in muggle clothing. But maybe she should have guessed that Orion´s wife would handle that matter. At least, now, boy´s hair wasn´t greasy and his robes didn´t look like they came from a bin.

'Master sees something in him', Bellatrix reminded herself. She seethed while thinking of that. She was horribly jealous of every bit of his attention, especially when its receiver seemed so undeserving. But still... Master had never been wrong.

/

When the feast was over and guests were directed towards the ballroom, Bellatrix concluded that her moment had finally come. After opening the dance floor with a compulsory dance with her husband, she approached Severus Snape, who was talking enthusiastically with Regulus Black.

"Dear cousin!" she called with a shriek voice and wrapped her arms around Regulus, giving him a slight startle. Then she proceeded to shuffle his meticulously combed hair. "Would you let me borrow your cavalier for a moment, Reggie?" She winked her eye and her cousin blushed. "He is not my...", the boy began to mumble but Bellatrix was already talking to Mr. Snape.

"May I have this dance, Mr. Snape?" She asked and smiled boisterously.

In the hall, sudden silence followed her act. Walburga´s scandalized look and bulging eyeballs amused her. She had never liked the woman that uncle Orion had chosen. She was too... well, proper. Her sweet cousin, Regulus looked puzzled and slightly amused by her request. Mr. Snape himself seemed only uncomfortable. Her cousin had to tug his sleeve to urge him to answer.

"If we really must..." the Snape boy sighed with so much aversion that she felt insulted.

"Are you trying to insinuate that I am too old for you, Mr. Snape?!" Bellatrix asked pointedly. She had her hands on her hips and in her eyes was a dark spark that didn´t bode well for the half-blood.

Bellatrix knew that she was one of the most stunning and influential witches in Great-Britain. Despite her being married to Mr. Lestrange there was no young man present, who didn´t secretly harbor feelings for her or at least lust after the magnificent body hidden in the dramatic blood red dress robes. (She could not have cared less that red was supposed to be the color of Gryffindors.)

"I mean this is an unexpected honor, Lady Black", Mr. Snape said louder, correcting the earlier slip.

Bellatrix gritted her teeth. 'Maybe he is homo-sexual', she pondered gloomily. (Though, she was almost sure that the rumors had talked about a mudblood girlfriend.) Anyway, she would be careful to never leave him alone with Master...

Bellatrix offered her hand to Mr. Snape. The young Slytherin took it and guided her to dance floor. Everyone stared them. When the orchestra began to play, Mr. Snape put his hand around her waist.

Bellatrix was slightly surprised to witness, that Mr. Snape wasn´t terribly bad at leading. A bit stiff and kept his dame further than necessary but his leading was accurate and he held the rhythm well. Salamander skin boots hit the polished stone floor gently. Dress robes rustled. The young man didn´t need to look to his feet, but for some reason he didn´t look into his dance partner´s eyes either. Bellatrix found it irritating.

Bellatrix grabbed the man tighter and brought him closer to herself. The half-blood looked up shocked. Bellatrix smirked. "It is easier to dance if you aren´t too far..." She breathed to his neck and and earned an involuntary jerk. The young man didn´t protest and Bellatrix let her hand travel from teenager´s shoulder to the nape of his neck where his black hair was collected together with a velvet ribbon. Her long fingers touched the waterfall of soft black hair and she felt the young man stiffen (whether it was from lust or horror didn´t really matter to her).

"Your mother is Eileen Prince, isn´t she, Mr. Snape? Or can I call you Severus?" she whispered to his ear. Mr. Snape was silent. He turned them left to avoid a couple that was dancing towards them. "I saw her once, when I was a small girl. Actually, the occasion was Buckmoon Celebration then too", Bellatrix continued with a silky voice.

"Indeed. My mother was Eileen Prince", the boy muttered. Bellatrix was surprised by how low and steady his voice was. They were now dancing so close to each other, that she felt the timbre of it resonating with her rib cage. Like black velvet or rumbling purr of a big cat.

"She must be Eileen Snape now, right?" Bellatrix corrected continuing to smile sweetly. "You look like her, Severus." She dragged boy´s name seductively. Truthfully, the smiling had began to strain her chin already.

"It was a great scandal, when Eileen Prince left the wizarding world. No-one had imagined in their wildest dreams that the lady of the Prince could do something like marrying a muggle! She was supposed to continue Prince line and bear a new heir to the family. When I met her, she didn´t leave a rebellious impression. Quite the opposite. Very subdued, I would have said then..."

"My mother made her decisions. And she suffered the consequences, I dare say", the boy answered dryly.

Bellatrix´s lips twisted. She was becoming more and more annoyed with his shut emotions and unreadable expressions.

"She is neither Prince or Snape anymore. Though, she was Eileen Snape until her death, around a year ago", the young man revealed.

"Oh... Your mother... Eileen Prince is dead? That sounds horrible. I was not aware. Do you mind me asking, how it happened?" Bellatrix inquired. She was immediately attacking this first voluntarily given bit of information. She had, of course, known about Eileen Snape´s demise but coercing more information on the pretense of sympathy seemed appropriate.

The boy finally rose his eyes to meet hers. They were black and clouded. "Well, she stopped breathing. Then her heart stopped beating and never started again. I think that this is how it happened", he told her with a monotonous voice and stony face.

Bellatrix fought against herself to stay civil. Later, if Master allowed, she would gladly devote her time to teach this cheeky half-blood some manners. She had no doubts, that after some time alone with her and her wand the boy would be the epitome of politeness. (Though it would probably take couple of weeks for him to be able to stand again and much longer to stop suffering from flashbacks and nightmares...) Thinking off that brought her joy and put the smile back on her lips. It was not the time for that yet... Master trusted her not to scare the half-blood away.

"Have I understood your situation right? Your muggle father is your sole guardian right now?"

Mr. Snape shrugged lazily. "Actually, that is not the case. I´m of age, Mrs Lestrange. Therefore, I act as my own guardian."

"That is convenient." Bellatrix nodded appreciatively. "I´ve understood that you live with the Blacks at the moment. You must know, that lots of people are curious to know, how that came to be. Have you known my cousin Regulus for a long time?"

"I didn´t know him. He asked me to become his tutor before holidays and I had no reason to decline. Therefore I agreed."

Bellatrix was quiet for a moment. "At least, I must say, that you aren´t needlessly talkative, Mr. Snape!" she suddenly snapped, finally losing her composure.

For the first time, she saw a slight smirk on her guest´s face.

"You shouldn´t be too surprised, Lady Lestrange... Being a chatterbox is more of a Gryffindor or Hufflebuff trait, don´t you think?"

Bellatrix was about to explode despite her Master´s warnings. There was limit to insolence! But then she spotted a familiar face in the crowd. A large man with matted grey hair leaned casually to a pillar. Bellatrix felt her blood freeze. The man caught on that he had been seen and his wide mouth curved to vicious smile. He rose a hand and audaciously waved to her. Bellatrix stared back in cold fury.

People danced around him, blissfully unaware of the constant danger.

Instinctively, she cast a worried glance out of the window where the sun was slowly beginning to set, coloring the beautiful garden red with its diminishing light.

"He is not supposed to be here!" Bellatrix hissed. She ripped herself from Severus´s hold. With growing anxiousness she searched her husband with her eyes. In vain.

"What is wrong, Lady Lestrange? You look pale." The polite question came from Kastor Dimas. The magizoologist had just finished a dance with Emily Nott. She had lost her first husband some time ago and was now a widower.

Bellatrix barely heard him. Her eyes were glued to the grey-haired man and her voice shook with combination of anger and fear. From her mouth came a voice so low and uncharacteristic to her that it sounded almost like a growl of an animal. "What does he think he is doing here? The likes of him... Cruciatus is too good! I will skin him. Rip his balls off... "

"Please, calm down Lady Lestrange." Kastor Dimas touched gently Bellatrix´s shoulder. "No-one is going to understand you like that. Do you mean that the man has not been invited to the celebration. You want him out, right?"

Bellatrix took a deep breath. "Yes. He was not invited. I want him out. IMMEDIATELY!"

"I will talk to him. Maybe this can be resolved without resorting to spells."

Bellatrix shook with rage as she watched, how Kastor Dimas went to the man. "That filthy... ...Should have been killed on the spot... Trying to reason with an animal, ha! Ridiculous!" Severus heard her mutter.

Neither of them heard, what Kastor Dimas said to the man as they were too far, but after a short exchange of words, the man seemed to back off. He turned and bowed mockingly to Bellatrix. He went as far as winking an eye to her before exiting the door.

Severus saw Bellatrix exhale deeply after the man was gone.

Next, Bellatrix barked a list of orders to the house-elves. Little creatures latched the doors and windows and cast some charms to them. If someone had stayed in the garden they would no longer be able to get in, but Severus guessed that the house elves had already counted the guests. The mansion could still be exited through floo connection and apparently house elves were able to apparate guests according to their wishes.

Severus noticed the long look that Mrs. Lestrange cast towards the window.

"Did you know him?"

She was startled by Severus´s sudden inquiry.

"No, I didn´t. Of course I didn´t, and never want to!" She denied. "Why do you ask?"

Severus simply cocked his eyebrow.

Bellatrix glared the teenager warily. She thought that, after all, maybe there really was a reason why Master had taken interest in him. The young Slytherin was sharp. Frighteningly sharp. And observant.


	18. Chapter 18

**Hi!**

 **I´m sorry for this taking so long. (I wanted to feel at least somewhat confident with the chapter before posting it.) The story is progressing and the good part of waiting is that I´ve written further and should be able to make another post very soon! :)**

 **-everyJohn**

/

The shadows widened outside the ballroom until it became completely dark. Only a huge full moon shed light on the empty Strange Gardens.

Inside the orchestra continued playing music. Several couples danced gracefully under the huge chandeliers. Women in their colorful dress robes resembled butterflies when they glided seemingly weightlessly through the dancefloor on their partner´s skillful arms.

The guests who didn´t care to dance socialized in some other manner. Severus had stayed tightly with Regulus after his first dance with Bellatrix Lestrange. The younger boy had introduced him to a few acquaintances of the Black family, but no-one had stopped to talk with them for long.

"Mr. Snape, Mr. Black!" Severus and Regulus turned towards the voice. Kastor Dimas was waving his hand and striving towards them. "An informal meeting is being held in the nearby lounge. Would you two like to join us? There will be drinks and something small to eat and it is a perfect occasion to get to know new people. Some of the wizards and witches, who are attending, are extremely famous in their fields. It is about time to let these people know that young, intelligent force is soon graduating from Hogwarts." The man winked. Then he stopped to wait for their answer.

Severus and Regulus shared a look. "This invitation is a great honor, Mr. Dimas. We would certainly like to come, but we are with my parents and therefore we need to ask for their permission first", Regulus answered politely, but his smile was wide and his eyes glittered with obvious interest.

"But of course! And Lady and Lord Black, are welcome to join us, if they wish", Kastor Dimas assured. "I will come back later to ask you again. I will lead you all to the right direction. This mansion is almost like a labyrinth."

/  
Regulus´s mother had been in a sour mood since spotting out that Bellatrix had "copied" in her hair ornament the similar raven feathers that decorated Walburga´s dress robes. She claimed feeling tired and having a headache. She was ready to head home and was not interested in any further festivities or discussion groups. Regulus´s father, Orion, on the other hand, was eager to go with the boys.

/

Some time later, they found themselves in a surprisingly modern, very large lounge. When they arrived, many wizards and witches were already seated on the comfortable black leather couches. They were discussing heatedly or sipping wine. On the side tables were several crystal dishes full of exquisite evening snacks such as original honey dukes and salty roasted roaches.

Most of the gentry regarded the newcomers at least by briefly nodding to their direction. Severus saw that Avery, Mulciber and Rosier were already there. A previous Slytherin prefect, Lucius Malfoy, who had graduated four years ago sat near the window with his young wife, Narcissa. Bellatrix and her husband Rodolphus Lestrange arrived on the heels of Severus and Regulus. They were soon followed by Mr. Lestrange´s younger brother Rabastan.

After Mr. Dimas had introduced Severus and Regulus to several people, he left them with a friendly middle-aged wizard and his mousy sister. These two guests had made space for the boys to sit down and seemed interested in their studies. After a short discussion, Severus came to know that they both worked in the field of spell development in the magical research. He also learned that both of them had been in Hufflepuff during their years at Hogwarts.

/

The night had already turned very late and more and more guests retired for the night, but considerable number still lingered. Severus felt himself getting sleepy. The same house elf, that had first welcomed them, Libby, continued to fill their goblets with pumpkin juice.

The Abbot siblings, who sat with them, had been surprisingly good company and Severus had a feeling that they would be likely to accept him as an assistant to one of their newest projects, after the graduation. Despite the night having turned out quite beneficial, Severus could not deny anymore that he had been ready to bed for a while. Unfortunately, every time he made an attempt to excuse himself for the night, either Mr. Dimas or Mrs. Lestrange or some other guest engaged in discussion with him, halting his intentions.

Regulus looked dazed and seemed more giddy than normal. So much, that Severus actually suspected that the lad had accidentally drank something with alcohol at least once during the evening. Either that or there was little something in the incense sticks, which were placed on the holders near the fireplace.

/

Less than thirty people remained in the room, when Mr. Dimas suggested a toast. Soon, everyone´s glasses were filled to the brim once again. "For the summer and beautiful pure-blood traditions!" Kastor Dimas exclaimed cheerfully and rose his goblet. All the others followed his suit.

Severus sipped his pumpkin juice without hurry. He rolled the light orange liquid on his tongue. It was sweet and fresh... best quality. But something bothered him. The change in the taste was very slight. There was a very minimal amount of additional bitterness, which caught his attention. His eyes widened from surprise.

Severus rose his head to announce his finding, but the intense stare of Mr. Dimas made him stop in the middle of the action. The man had obviously been watching him to see his reaction. Severus cast a hasty look on Regulus, but the other boy had already finished his drink, as had many others.

Mr. Dimas rose his own glass and drank it empty in front of Severus´s eyes. After he was finished, he turned the small goblet upside down and let out a content sigh. He smiled to Severus meaningfully. That didn´t help Severus to understand what was going on. He hesitated feeling confused, but then he began to slowly drink.

/

Couple of minutes later, some of the guests began to sway. Regulus´s father was among the first ones. He fell to the couch and began to snore loudly. Minnie Abbot and her older brother Lonnie fell asleep leaning against each other. Fiona from the Knight Bus had fallen face first on her plate and snored now loudly. Several others had also dropped down unconscious.

Regulus, who seemed to be more awake than in a while, looked to his father and then to Severus with rising panic.

People, who had stayed awake, looked around wide eyed and murmured to themselves. Someone cast an inspection charm to an empty goblet of his sleeping friend or relative, but the spell flashed red, which meant negative. Severus could have told him the result beforehand. Some goblets had, indeed, been tampered, but not those ones and even those which were would not react to basic inspection charms meant for detecting poisons and other harmful substances. People were simpleminded. It didn´t seem to cross anyone´s mind that the ones, who were currently wide awake, could have been the ones, who had drunk spiked drinks earlier.

When Severus had gulped down his pumpkin juice, he had done that while knowing full well, what it contained. Labeling the product had not been too difficult, as, for certain reasons, he was very familiar with it. At the time he had mainly been curious to know, why someone thought it to be a good idea to slip that kind of harmless antidote to his drink. That part of the riddle made now considerably more sense as Severus was quite sure that the invisible fumes of Dreamer´s Niff now dominated the air in the room. All of those without correct antidote in their circulatory system had fallen asleep.

Severus´s gaze stopped at unconscious Orion, sprawled on the couch and blessedly unaware of everything happening right beside him. At least, Severus could be sure of one thing: Orion and many others would experience apocalyptic headache tomorrow.

/

"Follow me, ladies and gentlemen", Mr. Dimas spoke to the crowd, "The people who are sleeping are not in any kind of a danger."

Everyone watched in silence as the magizoologist stepped further from the couches. He stopped in front of a huge stone ogre in the corner of the room and said something. The statue became alive. It gave out a grinding noise as it stepped aside revealing a narrow pathway and slanted stairway steps that led down in the darkness. Mr. Dimas disappeared into the stairs. Bellatrix Lestrange followed closely after him. Then some of the other guests joined in them.

Severus was puzzled to see the excitement on his school mates faces as they followed Kastor Dimas to the darkness without questions. He himself was in a dreamlike daze, desperately trying to comprehend what was happening around him.

Soon there was no-one left in the lounge but him and Regulus and a number of unconscious guests. Severus was about to say something, but when he rose his eyes to Regulus, the younger boy was already rushing after the others. Severus cursed and leaped after him just before the stone ogre turned again, taking back its position behind of them.


	19. Chapter 19

**Hi!**

 **Writing speeches for megalomanic Dark Lords can be hard work, but I did my best :)**

 **-everyJohn**

"Are you drunk or just unbelievably dim-witted, Regulus?" Severus hissed furiously and tugged younger boy´s robe sleeve to make him slow down. "Or is this how pure-blood parties usually go? Long past midnight and someone drugs half of the guests unconscious and then the rest follow him to some secret pathway like damn obedient house elves? Merlin... I sure don´t like this at all. Kastor Dimas is acting suspicious. Even you can´t deny that, Regulus." His grumbles halted as the uneven line of people suddenly stopped from advancing. Severus heard someone opening a heavy door in front. A loud, painfully long creak was followed by a wave of stuffy air. Soon after that, the line began to move again. Severus held his wand tighter in his fingers. He wished that he had had time to purchase a new wand before all of this.

The descending route was serpentine and had several intersections and trap doors. There was something slimy on the floor, maybe some kind of mushroom that the group had ground with their feet. Once, Regulus slipped and almost fell over Lucius Malfoy, who walked in front of him, but Severus´s reflexive grab on his dressrobes saved them both.

They walked for an indefinite time in almost complete darkness. When they finally reached their destination, Severus had lost both the conception of time and sense of direction. Bellatrix´s high-pitched voice said something. It was most likely some kind of an incantation because immediately after a fire grate in the middle of the room burst into hot flames that rose high, brightening the surroundings.

They were in some kind of an underground ceremonial hall. Bellatrix had lead them to the middle of the floor and now Severus found out that all of them stood in a perfect circle made of human skulls. Cryptic runes and mysterious engravings covered the nearby walls. In the sides of the hall, the light revealed thick stone pillars, which divided the hall into smaller sections. Severus shivered, when he noticed the angular shapes of ancient sarcophagi, partly hidden behind the pillars. That confirmed it. _This wasn´t a dungeon at all. No, this was a crypt._

In the shadows of the pillars, between the stone coffins, stood several silent shapes like vengeful ghosts of the deceased. Their black robes blended to the shadows so well that their distorted, white faces seemed to float in the air, glowing in the light of the flames. Deatheaters... It was hard to believe that behind of those horrifying silver masks existed real people.

/

Kastor Dimas began to talk. He welcomed them all and apologized for the unpleasant journey. Severus noticed immediately that his voice had changed during their quiet walk in the darkness. It was lower and filled with authority. There was also the angry way he pronounced certain letters, completing them with a dangerous, lingering hiss. His face had changed too. His eyes had narrowed and in the fire light they had a red gleam. Right in front of their eyes, his nose almost disappeared leaving only little more than slits behind. His brown, tanned skin had turned to sickly pale. His blond hair dropped off and grew back, black as ink. Handsome, healthy looking, young man was changing to something... human, but not quite.

When the transformation was complete, Severus knew that the dangerous being in front of his eyes should have looked dreadfully ugly. But somehow that simple word couldn´t capture the cold, slick allure of the strange man. The sheer power emitted from the older wizard was so magnificent that one could not look away from him.

"Y-you... You are Him!" A plump man in front of Severus and Regulus looked very shaken and his eyes were wide as saucers. "Y-y... You-know-who...", he stammered loudly, cutting the silence in the room. Regulus whispered to Severus that the talker was Matteus Dawlish and he was a well known banker and older brother of the Kristopher Dawlish whose Quidditch mishaps had brought so much joy to Orion.

"Yes. I know, who I am", said slowly the man, who didn´t anymore resemble Kastor Dimas even distantly. He rose an eyebrow and grinned at Mr. Dawlish, looking like a wolf ready to devour a lamb, which is too stupid for even attempting an escape.

Bellatrix let out a shrieking laugh that echoed from the solid stone walls.

"Let me introduce you, my friends, the real Mr. Dimas, who generously let me borrow his appearance during our celebration today. This faithful follower is an amazingly gifted magizoologist, who shall be invaluable to our cause", Voldemort continued, stepping aside. From behind of him, stepped up another man. This man with his blond hair and brown skin looked just like the man with whom Severus and Regulus had discussed the whole evening, but he obviously wasn´t.

 _Giants, trolls and... freaking inferi...!_ Severus cursed in his thoughts, as he felt the blood escape his face and limbs. It was as if an ice cold skeleton hand of fear had crept from the stone coffin and reached to squeeze his heart. _The person with whom we talked most during the evening was actually Voldemort himself. He was kind to us. He told me that I have a promising future ahead of myself._ Severus shut his eyes and held them closed, trying to get grip of himself.

Severus opened his eyes slowly. Nothing had changed in the room. _Oh, dear Merlin, how deep in dragon feces we are right now..._

/

"Polyjuice", the Dark Lord explained simply, confirming Severus´s thoughts. The man looked him to eyes and Severus sensed Voldemort´s red eyes to briefly feel the surface of his mind and then let him go.

"I-I don´t... I do..." Mr. Dawlish stammered, continuing to draw attention to himself. He was more than a little drunk and obviously quite bit horrified of the sudden turn of the events.

People began to talk all at once. Echoing voices cumulated into a discorded wave of cacophony that hit Severus´s ears like a migraine . It stopped only after Bellatrix Lestrange´s piercing voice cut through the tumult.

"Silence. SILENCE! Master is going to talk to you imbeciles!"

It was deathly silent. People craned their necks to see the famous Dark Wizard who was about to speech.

"Thank you, Bellatrix", Voldemort said warmly and smiled approvingly to his eager servant. Mrs. Lestrange beamed, very proud of herself.

"'You-know-who'... That seems to be my notorious pseudonym among the general wizarding population", Voldemort stated, looking thoughtful, "Such a ridiculous nickname has occupied the pages of the Daily Prophet quite regularly in the last years... Therefore I would imagine that all of you have already formed some kind of an opinion of me." He looked around the faces lighted by fire and sighed. "Honestly, sometimes it seems like the whole Wizarding Britain is in intent of tarnishing my name and the reputation of my followers. They call me dark... They call me lunatic, tyrant, enemy of the wizardkind." He scoffed. Then he smiled sadly. "But I am not an enemy. I am simply the one, who finally dares to talk loud what everyone has known for a long while but Ministry tries to desperately hush over."

He gave his words time to sink in.

"We are told that muggles are not our enemies. That they are our friends! That we should accept them and treat them with respect and adapt to their ways. And adapt some more." His voice rose. "Forget our culture. Our traditions. Our laws. And respect theirs! We are told that we should treat them as equals, but I say to you, it has been taken far too far. We, and that filth can never be truly equals. Anyone with an ounce of thinking ability can tell why. Still, the ministry is so bent on bowing to the mudbloods, that we, who are born with magic, are more like servants to muggles instead of the other way around. As it stands, our whole lifestyle has been made to serve their´s. There are more and more of muggles and mudbloods and more and more laws and restrictions made to keep them safe and comfortable and Statute of Secrecy intact."

Severus heard accepting mumbling among the listening crowd.

"How many of you remembers gliding on a broom in a warm summer afternoon in less populated areas of the countryside without any disillusionment charms? Do you remember the wind in your hair, on your face and the feeling of the ultimate freedom?" Some people nodded and admitted remembering, some shook their heads. "With ministry´s recent actions, that kind of moments are gone. The innocent activity from our childhood has become illegal. And it is simply one of the many things, plenty of which are much more sinister." Voldemort sighed and shook his head dramatically.

Severus and Regulus shared a look, reminiscing their afternoon at the Hunter's Hut. Apparently, the Blacks were quite privileged.

"We have adjusted ourselves. And then adjusted some more. BUT THERE IS A LIMIT TO THAT! And now... Now, we are getting angry", Voldemort swore venomously.

"We were given the amazing power of magic as a birth right. Do you really think that it is a coincidence that shamans rule all primitive muggle societies? Magic is nature´s way to ensure that someone governs over the filthy muggles that breed like insects." Voldemort´s eyes gleamed with red anger. His voice was like a low growl of a beast. "Mudbloods... There are laws made to ensure their employment. As a result those with dirty lineage have for decades slowly taken over our Ministry of Magic and turned it to muggle legislation unit. Still, we have our own thousand years old traditions! We have our own system and we still have 28 powerful pure-blood families, that have kept the tradition alive." He paused looking again to his audience. "Many of those present today here belong to one such a family. I desperately want to protect the true lineage of wizards! Those families form the core of our society."

He let his gaze wander on the listeners. "Are you ready to fight with me? It is said that I am powerful and that is true. But even I can´t do it alone. I need all of you!"

"B-but it´s written that y-your followers kill people... Is that not true?" Severus heard the familiar voice stammer.

"Yes. You are right, Mr. Dawlish. There have been muggle casualties. I am not trying to conceal it, though I admit that the Daily Prophet sadly gives very one-sided view of the situation. Some of our people have been killed or captured, too. But that kind of information the Daily Prophet won´t release... We are in a difficult situation where we have to fight against our own misguided government. Don´t delude yourselves. This is war! War is ugly and it always has it´s victims."

He became silent for a moment, listening to his audience´s reaction to his words.

"Let me explain... Muggles and mudbloods generally think, that we all live in the same country. They call it United Kingdom. But don´t you do the same mistake as those with less knowledge. There are undoubtedly two very different nations on these islands. There is The United Kingdom for muggles and The Magical Britain for magical folk. For decades and decades the Muggle UK has tried to make our nation into its vassal and we have let it happen.

The muggles are not some minority that needs protection. No, unfortunately we are the minority. And very small minority. Therefore if some of their people die in this war, truthfully, I am only pleased as it even slightly evens the gap in manpower that exists between us and the muggles.

The Muggle technology has advanced a lot in the last decades. They can now do things that they could not have dreamed off a hundred years ago. They can actually do things that we thought even in our wildest nightmares impossible for them. This is the eleventh hour to act, friends! Soon it might be too late. Despite the Statute of Secrecy and tightening hold of the ministry, they will find us eventually. And then they will attempt to destroy us. We may not want to consider them as enemies, but listen me carefully when I tell you: _They_ will never see us as friends. If there is something that has not changed no matter how much time has gone, it is muggle hatred towards everything even slightly different!

I have judged you worthy of our cause and therefore you are today offered a rare choice. I hope that you think it through carefully. You can hide away like a coward and wait for the better times. Adjust. Adapt. And wait silently. But you can also choose a path where you make your own future! You can become someone, whose name the future generations remember with gratitude.

I´ve picked every single one of you from the mass of people and I believe in you! I want you to know that if you were to choose this path, you won´t be alone. You will always have the support of your sisters and brothers in arms. To my pleasure, I can say that there are already many of them."

Voldemort rose both of his hands, palms towards the audience, as though blessing the listeners. "Majority of the people you see here today have already chosen their path." The dark wizard grinned proudly. "These amazing witches and wizards are my hope! They are my freedom fighters. They are my Deatheaters."

People in the crowd cheered wildly and many of them looked around to see, who had already taken the dark mark and who were yet to make their choice.

/

The Dark Lord was a good speaker, Severus gave him that. He was passionate but rational. The points he made were sure to earn sympathy from almost every pure-blood. (Not the least because there was a grain of truth in them.)

"Some of you may ask: What about the half-bloods? What are the few half-bloods doing here?" Dark Lord´s eyes seemed to stop momentarily to Severus. "And some of the half-bloods themselves might ask the same question..." He smiled towards some of the guests. "But I say to you that things are rarely that simple. Half-bloods... Their magical parent made an ill-advised choice to mate with a muggle or mudblood. Still that does not have to mean that every half-blood comes a half and half to each of their parents. Children usually resemble more one of their parents than the other. And sometimes they may seem almost like exact reincarnations of their grandparents or even further relatives."

He stopped and was rewarded by appreciative humming.

"Some of the half-bloods are not wizards at all. They are like their muggle parent and completely lack the gift of magic. Many of the others, nevertheless, have inherited the gift. Those children will have an important choice to make." His gleaming eyes sought his followers and potential candidates. "If you are a wizard in soul, you accept our traditions, our culture and values of life. You also accept the obvious truth that the power of magic governs over those without it. If you have wizard´s soul you will do your utmost to fight on our side and abandon your dirty muggle roots. Only that way one can establish that despite their lineage their heart and soul is magical."

People mumbled approvingly.

Then his expression became stern. "But if you are on our enemy´s side, protecting muggles on their way to destroy our way of life... That is also a choice. It tells us that you are not really a wizard, but a dirty blood traitor, muggle, whose apparent magical ability is nothing but a con." He sizzled the last words. The crowd listened intently.

"One should be judged by his choice. Not by lineage. As our choices tell better than anything who we truly are and how thick our magical blood truly is", the Dark Lord finished fervently.

After becoming sure that he had finished the speech people began to clap their hands in bliss. Severus saw tears of affection in some of their eyes. Then everyone began to talk at the same time.

/

Even Regulus seemed moved by the speech, though Severus could read from his body language that the boy still felt very conflicted.

"I had never actually met the Dark Lord, before this", he muttered. "To think that Mr. Dimas would end up being him..." He shook his head. "Well, I´ve heard my parents arguing almost continuously over him. And, of course, I´ve also read some of the articles in the Daily Prophet", he tried to explain. "But do you think that there was lots of exaggeration in those, Severus? I remember that some of the things depicted there were very... unseemly." He bit his lower lip worriedly. "One would think that he is some kind of an insane sadist psychopath. But now I think that some of the things that he says seem to make sense, don´t they?" His big brown eyes were turned to Severus, waiting for answers that the older boy didn´t feel like he had.

Severus´s honest personal opinion was that everyone could lie. Therefore it was logical to think that also The Daily Prophet could. Still, the bits and pieces from the conversations of his upperclassmen had made him to come to a conclusion that the Dark Lord was the best manipulator and liar there was. Second to none. Except perhaps Dumbledore.

"Look carefully into yourselves, both the pure-bloods and the half-bloods. Are you ready to fight in this war? You are young, but it is up you where you choose to stand!"

Those words were obviously some kind of a signal. Several witches and wizards moved gracefully to take their stand behind of the Dark Lord. Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan were among the first ones to take their place. Lucius Malfoy joined in them soon. Severus was not too surprised to see that Evan Rosier had also already taken the mark and joined into Deatheaters. From the look of the things also Emily Nott already bore the mark in her arm. On the other hand, her little brother Eric Nott, who was couple of years older than Rosier stayed with Severus and Regulus as did Mulciber and Avery. Altogether, there were only seven new recruits, Severus counted. He, Regulus, Mulciber and Avery made four of them. Eric Nott was the fifth and a bull faced girl, whose name Severus didn´t know and who had not talked to a single soul during the whole evening, was the sixth. The seventh was Matteus Dawlish, who was older than any of the other candidates.

Severus took notice that Mr. Dawlish still looked very uncomfortable in the middle of the mass of Deatheaters. He made futile attempts to restrict or at least conceal his relentless hiccuping. He had drunk a lot during the evening and it looked like his happy high had suddenly turned, once and for all, to a hellish hangover. "I-I did not have any idea that it would come to this. I was quite unprepared, I admit. This is a honor... Of course, it is a honor. This simply came so very suddenly", he muttered. He kept looking nervously around as he talked and his cheeks burned bright.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes and snorted. "I knew that the Fat-Matt Dawlish wouldn´t have the guts!" she stated and looked triumphantly to her husband, who just shrugged calmly.

"No-one is forcing anyone to join", Voldemort reassured the nervous man. "This is a voluntary organization. We understand that some of you may find it hard to make the commitment. If any of you is unsure, you are free to go. I promise that no-one here will stop you from leaving."

Some of the cloaked Deatheaters snickered behind their masks. Severus locked eyes with one that he thought for sure to be Valentino Grabbe, an idiot upperclassman, who had just graduated from Hogwarts.

Mr. Dawlish seemed more hopeful after hearing that. "I wouldn´t even hesitate, but in my trade one needs to be very careful with their reputation. There are sometimes inspections and... well, it could look very bad if someone were to find out or even suspect that I have taken the Dark Mark. I, of course, am ready to support the movement otherwise. I would be glad to offer financial support!" He babbled.

Lucius Malfoy snorted.

"I know, you would, Mr. Dawlish. I am sure that we all agree that your reasoning is very sound. We would have relished you as a fellow Deatheater, but you are right. There is never too many supporters outside the brotherhood." Voldemort smiled a cold smile. "Bellatrix, dear, Mr. Dawlish wishes to go, therefore would you kindly show him the way out?"

Bellatrix nodded eagerly, but Mr. Dawlish seemed still a bit unsure. "There won´t be... revenge or anything? I swear that will never tell anyone, what I saw here..."

Voldemort waved his hand dismissively. "I know that you won´t, Mr. Dawlish. And I give you my word that none of my Deatheaters will ever hurt you."

The young banker breathed deeply. He bowed to Voldemort and Mrs. and Mr. Lestrange. Then Bellatrix led him to a narrow path on the left. As they receded Severus heard the echo of Mrs. Lestranges sweet voice to explain: "I will show you the way to the gardens. I´m sure you will find your way out of there on your own. You only need to move far enough, so that you can disapparate..."

/

Voldemort turned to them again. "Is there anyone else, who wishes to reconsider or needs more time to think through their options?"

"So... What do you think about it, Severus?" Regulus whispered nervously. "I never considered this when we accepted Dimas´s invitation. I figured that some time in the future we could come across to this kind of a situation, but I always thought that it would be long after the graduation. You know, Severus, that my father has been waiting for an invitation for a long while. But it never came! Why do you think, he wants me instead of my father? Does he really believe that I am so special?" The younger boy wondered. Severus didn´t say anything, but he didn´t find it all that surprising. Regulus was many times more intelligent that his foolish father.

"Walburga would murder us, if we were to join and she came to know...", Regulus added gloomily. Severus had stared after Mrs. Lestrange and Mr. Dawlish, but now he forced a reassuring smile on his face. "Regulus, you should consider this an honor. We absolutely must accept his mark. There is no other option." His voice was flat, not really matching the enthusiasm of his words.

Regulus looked surprised. "Do you really mean that, Severus?" The younger boy frowned in confusion. "I imagined that your plan was to stay out of all trouble and refuse to choose a side?" he ascertained. His eyes tracked the nearby Deatheaters to make sure that no-one was eavesdropping their quiet conversation and therefore he didn´t notice the slight tightening of Severus´s mouth as he held back a wince.

"It was different then, Regulus. I had not met him personally. But this is a pointless discussion..."

Regulus gave Severus a long, scrutinizing look. Then he slowly nodded. "If you say so... Then we will both take the mark tonight together with Mulciber and Avery?" "Yes. That would be best", Severus confirmed. Regulus smiled tentatively and Severus smiled back, but it didn´t reach his black eyes. He patted younger boy´s shoulder. "I´m ready, if you are", Regulus assured to Severus´s back. "I´m sure that my father would be pleased... I just hope that Walburga never gets a sniff of it."


	20. Chapter 20

**Hi!**

 **I decided to do a slight time jump (I might write more about the** **Deatheater recruitment party** **in flashbacks later, though). This very short chapter focuses on Severus´s feels and thoughts immediately after taking the Dark Mark. (If you feel that this is too boring or something, be free to give feedback.)**

 **Hopefully, I can soon post more. The next chapters should include more action than this one.**

 **Oh, and I noticed that I have forgotten to comment the (much appreciated) reviews, for a while. I will fix the mistake now.**

 **I have to say that JayBat catches on well the hints I present... And the others too :) It´s really fun to read your speculations. Someone commented the age of our dear Bellatrix, but according to Pottermore it is actually (surprisingly) pretty much canon. (I admit that I also thought that she would be younger initially...)**

 **-EveryJohn**

/

Severus lay on his bed in Sirius´s room. He was shivering silently. Pain throbbed in his arm where the mark still burned to his skin. It went deep. Deeper than flesh. Deeper than bones.

Severus could still feel his clammy fingers squeezing around his wrist like a real snake and almost heard Snake´s cold and ruthless voice inside his head demanding answers for the same questions again and again. Shuffling through his private memories... Time after time, the Dark Lord had wanted to see how Regulus and him had met Henry Potter and spent time with him. Severus didn´t know, why it interested him so much.

The dark wizard had greatly enjoyed the pain that he inflicted, the power he had over him. His shame. His futile, instinctive struggle... It all had humored Snake.

Disgust surfaced in Severus so strong that he could have retched. He had to resist the urge to rush to bathroom and rinse steaming hot water over the brand and rub it with soap, over and over again. And if it didn´t help, continue with acid and salt. With anything that would burn off even the memory of it.

Severus could not claim that he had been ignorant. No, Severus was well-read in dark arts. Right from the beginning he had been aware that even cutting off the whole hated limb would not help someone foolish enough to allow himself to be branded with a soulmark. He knew that only in unlikely occasion of Voldemort perishing before him, could he ever hope to be free again. That knowledge alone made him feel suffocated.

Then he felt a rush of anger that was like a fresh breeze. He refused to be a victim. The thrice cursed Snake had tricked him! But at the same time the seemingly infallible dark wizard had been tricked by him. Despite what he thought, Voldemort didn´t know anything about Severus Snape, the last of the Princes and a half-blood, who had survived in Slytherin for six years. The Dark Lord could use legilimency on him and mark him as his... but to think that after that he owned him? What a fool.

Still, one thought bothered Severus more than anything else. _Unlike him, Regulus had not truly understood, what he had gotten into._ Regulus had agreed to it only because he had told the boy to do that. The young pure-blood had swallowed the half truths that Snake had fed him. To him the mark was merely a symbol of pure-blood alliance and a way to contact comrades. Regulus´s good heart and sheer naivety, made Severus want to scream from frustration. The boy was not even stupid. He just trusted too much.

 _One day Regulus will realize my betrayal_ , Severus knew. The sheets of the bed had become damp with his sweat. The whole small room reeked of fear. His heart drummed with anxiety against rib cage. At some point, he, however, finally gave in to the exhaustion and fell into delirious sleep.

/

 _He saw himself on a wide beach that he had once visited with his mother, when he was still a small child and Eileen had been in a better condition. His small feet sank into fine sand. He picked up a shell to his tiny hands and turned to show it to his mother, but noticed that she had already left and he was now all alone on the huge beach. He tried to call his mother and found out that his voice was that of an older teen, not a high voice of a small child. He was his normal age again._

 _When Severus turned to the sea, he saw the water withdrawing. He looked at it, confused and not knowing, what that meant. He was still wondering, where his mother had disappeared. Then he noticed a huge shadow rising in the distant horizon. He squinted. It wasn´t a storm cloud. No it was... water. A huge wave. And suddenly it was coming towards him like a ravaging herd of graphorns on their mating season. He looked around in panic. He was all alone. There was no place take cover in. Nowhere to hide. He could only watch as the tsunami approached. He felt it´s power and his own helplessness. He heard it´s furious bellowing as it hit the coast line and broke over him. The crushing mass of water fell over him. It swept him along like a tiny piece of floating bark._


	21. Chapter 21

When the day turned to noon without the house elf Kreacher seeing either of the boys, it began to suspect that something was wrong in its young lord.

The house elf apparated upstairs and and barked in the bathroom using the excuse of bringing in clean towels. Regulus had been tending his sores by dozing off in a tube. Before he had a chance to cover himself or even fully understand, what was happening, the concerned elf already spotted the angry red mark in his upper arm.

Of course, the house elf immediately told Walburga and then all hell broke loose...

/

After Regulus´s even normally scary mother, Walburga, deduced, what had happened in Bellatrix´s party, she cursed all the males to the deepest hell and back using vocabulary that no-one had known her to be capable of.

She was raving mad at Orion and Regulus. The first thing she did, when she saw Orion, was to hit her pale and hangover husband with a fast row of vicious stinging hexes. She called him "imbecile" and with lots of much less flattering names, until the poor man managed to escape to kitchen.

After calming down slightly, Walburga turned to Regulus. She didn´t let him utter a single word of defense. "Regulus Arcturus Black." Her voice was icy. "Did you know, what kind of man is the one, whose mark you now bear, my son? Of course not. You, stupid boy!" She shook her head. "You think that I and your father are cold?" She gave out a bitter laugh. "Compared to him we are Hufflepuffs with bleeding hearts."

She lowered her voice and looked downwards. "I knew Riddle from the school and he is nothing but a monster. Clever and dangerous beast. But had I known that it would come to this... At least, I would never have let that filthy half-blood in! And I would have locked you into your room for the whole summer with the feeble wish that you would finally abandon your childish fantasies and grow up and became a man."

She turned to her son and claimed: "You, my son, have shamed me and the blood in your veins! How I wish that I could say that you are not my son!"

Regulus winced as if being hit, but his mother in her rage was beyond all mercy. "You willingly let that half-blood filth fool and manipulate you. It is surprising that you ever ended up in Slytherin with that kind of naivety! I am ashamed to share my name with you."

Regulus swallowed and blinked furiously to keep the tears inside. They would only anger his mother further. "Mom, It... It´s not Severus´s fault...", he began with broken voice but Walburga halted his intentions of defending his friend with one murderous look.

She grabbed his chin and looked him to the eyes. "Your Dark Lord is a result of clever manipulation and overactive imagination. He sure can be charismatic and when he wants his tongue is pure silken sweetness, but even basilisk poison would be healthier than him! And your dear friend offered my son to that beast on a platter! Don´t ask me to thank him for that!" Walburga growled. "I know you, Regulus. You joined in them because your tutor did. I have seen how disgustingly smitten you have become by that half-blood. You would do nearly anything if he asked. Alone you would never have gone this far."

Regulus paled. He looked silently as Walburga paced around wrinkling her hands in frustration. Then she grabbed a flower vase and threw it to a wall. She looked with obvious satisfaction, how the glass broke into bristles and water sloshed down the wall. Scattered blood red roses lay on the floor.

"You think that monster actually wanted you? An ignorant child? Sure the surname Black would weight something in his scale, but your Dark Lord chose you just to spite me and to bound our family to his poisonous will." Her sweet voice cut like a knife. "You and your idiot father! You do not even understand, what you have done!"

Then suddenly, she broke into sobs, which honestly scared Regulus more than all that screaming. She turned away covering her eyes, clearly embarrassed of her own reaction.

/

Although, Walburga was furious to Regulus and Orion, Severus was the one whom she really blamed for what had happened. She could not take her anger on the Dark Lord himself so she directed it towards the outsider in her house, who had irked her for a long time.

At that moment, she would have killed him if she had possessed even little of the reckless Gryffindor traits. Even as a full-blooded Slytherin with all the upbringing and experience she had in controlling her feelings, she came close. If she could have done that without getting caught, she probably would have. Nevertheless, she could not stand to see the half-blood under her roof for a second longer!


	22. Chapter 22

**Hi!**

 **Sorry that these recent chapters have been this short. It just felt fitting to cut the story here instead of later. I´d enjoy some feedback :) Is this still interesting to you?**

 **-everyJohn**

/

He had been violently dragged out of his bed. Amidst all shouting and profanities, he came to know that Walburga had somehow already caught on, what had happened on the previous night. She apparently knew of the Deatheaters, Voldemort and the dark mark on her son´s arm. And she wasn´t happy.

Merlin, how the woman had fumed! Her anger had made blood run cold. Worst of all, Walburga had already determined that Severus was the main evil responsible for everything. She accused him of secretly plotting for the Dark Lord for the whole time.

Then, Severus had been cold-heartedly kicked out from the Grimmauld place number 12. The nastiest insults and most horrendous threats had followed him as he stumbled to the relative safety of outdoors. Walburga had held him at wandpoint and Severus could have sworn that avada kevadra was already on her lips. Kreacher in her side had looked almost rabid.

It didn´t cross his mind to complain.

At the door steps, Severus was given the final message by Kreacher. The Lady of Black didn´t want to see him near her son ever again. As a goodbye, the house elf spit on his face and banged the door to his nose.

A moment later, his trunk with his scarce possessions was thrown after him.

/

Severus stood now on an almost empty street in the middle of the muggle London´s suburbs. After all the screaming, howling and bellowing, the relative silence felt almost unnatural. For the first time since waking up to Kreachers threats, he had time to stop to think about how he felt.

 _Like a wreck, apparently._

His head felt heavy, his nose was horribly stuffy and his throat hoarse. His left arm still hurt. He was all alone, lost and without any money. He was in need of pepper-up-potion, but didn´t have even a cauldron for brewing...

In couple of minutes it also began to rain.

Severus dragged his heavy trunk under the cover of a faded sunshade that belonged to a closed off cafe´ nearby. The sunshade protected him from the rain, but not from the wind that now pushed through his already damp clothes.

Severus sighed heavily and sat on his trunk. His long, awkward arms wrapped around his bony knees as he leaned his hot head to them. He closed his eyes and took shaky breaths.

/

Severus had not cried in years. Even in his mothers funeral he had not been able to shed a tear.

 _It had been almost an year ago. Severus had not been able to eat or drink anything for a day. His father had disappeared somewhere, probably drowning his sorrow in alcohol._

 _He remembered standing near a small table which was holding a candle and a black-and-white picture of his mother. He had been leaning to a wall, not daring to move from the fear of fainting and falling down while knocking over the flowers that someone from the church had kindly brought over after realizing their dire economic situation and that there would not be any guests._

 _In the picture his mother looked younger than how he remembered her. The picture had been cut from a disregarded version of his parents old wedding picture. Eileen sat completely still in the cage of black frames. It was a muggle picture so it was not surprising that she didn´t move around, but after all the years of looking at almost the same picture on a dusty dresser of their small house, Severus had come to a conclusion that his mother would not have moved even in a magical picture. Her hair was darker and thicker but she was thin and already had the familiar haunted look in her dark eyes. She looked glum. She had always looked glum. Severus could not remember ever seeing her smile._

 _It had rained heavily even though it was late summer. That had felt oddly fitting for his mother´s funeral._

This time, Severus´s exhaustion was so deep that breaking down in quiet sobs that rattled his whole body, was actually more of a physical than emotional reaction. The muggles that walked down the street during that time, were in hurry and the pouring rain obscured their vision. No-one took a notice of a worn out teenager.


	23. Chapter 23

Not a downpour has ever lasted forever. This time too, eventually the sky began to clear. Sun shone between the clouds and Severus felt the calming odor of wet dirt in his nose. He rose his head to tiredly look around and saw that the pouring water had formed small ponds which now glimmered in the sunlight. From the sound of it most of the rainwater already sloshed happily down the nearby drains.

Severus heard flapping of wings. A great horned owl descended on his shoulder. It stretched its huge wings and poked its leg intently towards him. Severus took the letter and read:

 _Dear, Mr. Snape_

 _We all have heard about the unfortunate circumstances, which have forced you to leave your former residence. I am writing this letter in behalf of our mutual friend and benefactor to tell you that he has taken this matter to heart. After hearing what happened at the Blacks he felt obliged to reserve a room in The Leaky Cauldron for you. He wants you to head straight to Diagon Alley after receiving this message. You should also visit Gringotts Wizarding Bank, at the first opportunity that presents. To your knowledge: In addition to covering the living expenses for the rest of the summer, our benefactor has ensured that you have enough galleons in your bank account to buy what you need for the upcoming school year._

 _There is still another matter that he was concerned about. Last time you met he noticed that your wand is greatly inadequate for you. As this remarkably hinders your ability to perform at your best, he requests you to use the funds to purchase a new wand as soon as possible._

 _Our benefactor congratulates you for your recent coming of age and sends you his best wishes. You will hear about us soon._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Kastor Dimas, International Master of Magizoology_

 _P. S. The great horned owl, which will deliver this letter, shall be yours from now on, Mr. Snape. Give him a name and he will return to you._

Severus snorted. He folded the letter back into the envelope and looked at owls yellow eyes.

"Ha! He says that I can name you", he told the bird and laughed bemusedly. "Some days ago I could not have imagined that I would soon have a pet familiar... and from the Dark Lord, no less." The bird blinked its eyes once, as if warning him from playing with a serious matter.

"Then, as I am allowed to... Or rather, commanded to name you... Hmm? You shall be... Tumultus", Severus decided simply. The bird tilted its head as if considering the name. Severus scowled. "If you dare to get picky about it, bird, I could easily invent something much nastier."

The bird hooted pacifyingly.

"I thought so. It means storm... Should be pleasant enough for a creature with wings. Actually it was storming rather heavily just before you appeared." Severus sighed. "My life... it is also in uproar and there seems to be no end of that any time soon", Severus admitted. "Objections?" The bird simply rattled its feathers and flitted to air. "Silence means acceptance, Tumultus", Severus confirmed and was answered by a nonchalant hoot. Severus snorted. He was apparently going bonkers. But was it a wonder that his sanity took a toll after everything?

The bird would be back eventually. And now he needed to buy a cage among the other things.

/

Severus didn´t know what else to do. He brought his wand arm up and waited nervously. Luckily, it worked just as he had predicted. The ear-splitting sound of the screaming brakes was followed by a familiar, hideous bus swirling to sight. This time, he was careful to clear away from its path. The Knight Bus gave a long hiss as it finally stopped on its wheels right next to him.

The sour looking conductor (same as last time) took his trunk and shoved it in. She glared him darkly but opened her mouth only once to order him to use a drying spell on himself before stepping in.

/

Only a little later, Severus tumbled in the Leaky Cauldron. He attempted to check in, but the friendly innkeeper reassured him that everything had been arranged beforehand. Even the payment for the first night had already been taken care of. Severus admitted to himself that this was very considerate of the Dark Lord. Dealing with the grumpy goblins at Gringotts while feeling this sick was not something that he had looked forward to.

Tom, the innkeeper, lead him through a narrow corridor to the furthermost door. The door opened to a small, simply furnished, room. It was far from luxurious, but it fit to him and felt almost cosy.

Tom looked at his droopy form with pity, shook his head and suggested for him to get some sleep.

/

As Severus lay on his bed, his thoughts wandered to Lily Evans of Gryffindor. Her fiery red hair, flaming gold in sunlight. Her radiant smile that revealed two rows of pearl perfect teeth. Her hearty laugh was strangely musical. Her small nose, the freckles around it and her gorgeous green eyes, which Severus knew could burn like fire. Not for him anymore. To him they had dulled more than a year ago when he had lost grip of himself in the middle of humiliation. He had lashed against her and she never forgave him.

 _What would Lily have done in his place if she had been there yesterday?_

A stupid question, he berated himself. Lily Evans would never have found herself stuck in that kind of a trap. But even if she did... Still a stupid question. She would never have let herself become a Deatheater, no matter what. Not even if the only other opinion was a painful death. Severus could see the hot-headed prefect trying to spit on the Great Snake´s ugly face if brought to the ritual and asked to commit to the cause. He smiled to himself wistfully. Maybe Lily would have made it out alive despite the odds. Lily was a Gryffindor after all, and everybody knew that the red and golden bunch was unfairly lucky. Their life expectancy was considerably higher than it should be considering the hare-brained stuff they pulled almost regularly.

 _What would Lily think off him, if she were to know that he bore the mark of a Death Eater in his arm? That he was actually accepting help from them?_

Severus could all too well imagine a pair of disparaging green eyes. She would say nothing, as she already thought him of no-more worthy of her words, but she would think that his decisions now confirmed that he was just like everyone had always claimed him of being.

Still, while laying on the comfortable bed, wrapped in clean sheets and listening the faint voices carrying from the neighbor room through the thin walls Severus found out that he did not feel regret for accepting what his mad master had offered to him today. It was not as if he would sell his soul for this kind of a small pleasure, but as the damage was already done it felt right to be compensated even a little. A true Gryffindor would think this kind of money as dirty but Severus was a Slytherin and that made things much more complicated, which was often the case.

In the privacy of the small corner room, Severus made a decision. For the time being, he would obediently eat from his master´s hand and perform all the tricks required. He didn´t really have a choice. He would gladly enjoy every little privilege this situation offered. At the same time, however, Severus swore that he would not let himself forget that his freedom had been cheated from him by a manipulative snake-like wizard.

There was an saying: Make an enemy of a Gryffindor and be ready for an immediate attempt for your life. Make an enemy of a Ravenclaw and be astonished by his clever and clinical revenge. Make an enemy of a Huffelpuff and even his housemates refuse to associate with you and your family for three generations. But make an enemy of a Slytherin... and he smiles to you for twenty years and names his firstborn after you, only to push you gently over the edge of an abyss on the first perfect occasion.

/

Severus stood in front of the wand shop Ollivanders. He let his hand lie on the door handle for a moment. All of his school mates had visited this shop before their very first year in Hogwarts. How many times, had he felt a bang of jealousy in front of their new beautiful wands, which were just right for them? He remembered how Lily had beamed, when she had gotten her cypress and unicorn wand. She had told him times and times over, how she had tried several different wands one after one and how amazing it had felt to finally touch her own and what Ollivander had told her about the attributes of cypress. Severus had listened and tried to feel happy for his best friend despite the hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He had never felt anything of what Lily described from his mother´s wand. The wand felt mostly just lifeless, but sometimes slightly sulky. If it obeyed him, he had a feeling that it did that grudgingly. The reason why it worked slightly better in curses was probably because it was able to vent on its anger.

During his school years, he had walked past Ollivanders numerous times while visiting Diagon Alley. Now he was finally here but felt bitterness that he had never thought of feeling at this point. Had he been here on his seventeenth birthday instead of attending that stupid Buckmoon Celebration at the Lestranges... If only he had been able to purchase the wand with his own hard-earned salary instead of relying on the money of an evil megalomaniac... How different it would have been then. But now the whole long-awaited occasion had gained a foul taste.

Severus gathered his determination and stepped in the dim room full of high piles of wand cases.

/

"Son...? You are not a first year. I have not seen you before this."

"Yes", Severus admitted. "I have used my mother´s wand until now."

The old man, who was the owner of the shop, clicked his tongue and stepped closer.

"I have heard that some families still do that to save money. I think that it is complete waste of talent to not invest in something that important. I offer my finest products in very fair price and paying in installments is not unheard off. I suppose that your parents were not aware?"

Severus hummed in a way that could be interpreted confirming.

"So, what year are you now and what kind of a wand have you been using until this point?"

Severus frowned. "I´ll have my N.E.W.T.s next year, sir."

"Seventh year, then?" The man muttered. His measuring tape had began to swirl in the air around Severus. Severus put up with it for a while, but when it began to measure the space between his nostrils he instinctively swatted it to the wall as if it was an annoying fly. Mr. Ollivander rose an eyebrow but did not comment.

"Well, you sure called the absolute last chance to affect positively to your grades. One can only wonder, how the professors in the school have let you advance this far without questioning the inherited wand. Hmm..." He lifted his round eyeglasses and squinted Severus while rubbing his left eye . "So what wood is your present wand, son? I hope, that it was purchased from my shop at least? Who was the owner, again? Your mother, hmm?"

"H-hazel. It is a hazel wand, sir, I believe", Severus muttered and reached for the wand. "It should be from this same shop..."

Mr. Ollivander grabbed it from his hands. He held it close to his eyes for a long while.

"And unicorn hair at that. Now I remember... Eileen Prince. She was your mother? A poor girl. An unfortunate owner... and such a sad hazel wand." Severus saw something wet glimmer in the man´s deep eyes. "You are a poor boy, too. To work with other witch´s hazel wand... And your mother, the original owner of the wand has passed away."

Severus was taken aback that the old wandmaker could tell this much just by holding his mother´s wand for a moment.

"She died around a year ago", Severus admitted. The man looked him to eyes and then nodded with sympathy.

"It is easy to see. Your wand has wilted. There is nothing but a fading echo of magic there anymore. That sometimes happens to the sensitive hazel wands when their owner dies. Especially if unicorn hair is used." He shook his head. "I have to say that I am all the more impressed. I am honestly curious about how you managed pass your O.W.L.S. with your mother´s wand?"

Severus shrugged. "Wand work is not as important in Potions, Herbology or Care of the Magical Beings as in some other subjects, sir. And Defense Against Dark Arts exam luckily relied more on the theory and quick thinking in my year. I would surely have flunked Transfiguration, but someone had stolen my wand just before the exam. Professor McGonagal had no choice but to let me borrow her own wand in the finals. She almost fainted, when she realized how well I did in the practical compared to my usual performance in the class."

Severus tried to look nonchalant despite being actually quite smug about it. "I have always been good in theory and that ensured me the E that let me advance to the N.E.W.T level. The Charms on the other hand went abysmal as usual. I was surprised that professor Flitwig did not give me a straight out troll."

He had passed Arithmancy and Ancient Runes without any real difficulties as both subjects relied more on theory and required minimal amount of wand waving.

"You seem academically ambitious, son. Considering that, I must repeat that you did well by stepping here today. What is your name, mister?"

"Severus Snape, sir", Severus told and offered his hand.

The older man took it and nodded slowly to himself. "Snape...?"

After a thoughtful silence, he seemed to make the connection. "Ah, that is a muggle name for sure."

He smiled, but there was silent wonder on his old face. "Who would have thought... That shy young miss Prince eventually went against all her family traditions and married outside the magical community!" He shook his head. "That seems so unexpected. Yet, no matter the name of your father, you are still one of the Princes from your mother´s side ...and a powerful wizard from what I have heard. It will be interesting to see, how much of the traditional characteristics of the Princes you posses... But I should not make far-fetched connections too soon. It is always hard to tell."

Severus decided to ignore his inane mumbling. "So... How do we proceed? Do I just begin trying them from somewhere and continue until I find the right one?" He asked impatiently.

Old wandmaker´s eyes narrowed. "It is always the wand that chooses the wizard, not the other way around."

Severus shrugged and the man turned to fumble with one of the selves full of wand boxes.

"This. Try this and we will see..."

Severus reached towards the wand, but he could have sworn that his finger tips did not even touch it before the man took it away. "No, certainly not. Something completely... completely different... Lets see... Hawthorn? It could work, maybe, but the problem is the core. None of the three cores would complement it the right way. Cedar... With unicorn hair, perhaps?"

This time Severus was actually able to wrap his fingers around the wand before it was ripped from him. To his surprise, Severus thought that he had actually felt something from the wand. Some kind of lethargic curiosity.

"Yew... I think, you might be one of the rare ones suited for a yew wand, after all. It should be quite long, around 11,5" to 14". Mostly inflexible, I say. Core... Phoenix feather? Or unicorn hair? Certainly not dragon heart string for you. Try this."

Severus felt it immediately as he took the wand from the man. Curiosity... and something darker. Devouring... Without noticing what he was doing, Severus had let go of the wand. It dropped to the floor with an undramatic clack. Severus batted his eyelids. "Oh, s-sorry. It is not harmed in any way, I hope?" he asked worriedly.

The old man bent over to pick the wand. He seemed to look Severus a bit differently. "You felt something from it, Mr. Snape?"

Severus was confused but nodded. "Curiosity. Also from the other wand... But this was different... It felt greedy, hungry. I... I just... I didn´t like how it made me feel."

The man nodded, listening intently. "Your grandfather´s... Lord Prince´s wand was yew. I thought it would suit you, but it is apparently true that you differ a lot from him."

He turned around. "You say that you can feel the wands? You must be quite sensitive to magic, huh?" he muttered. "Well, in some way this could simplify things."

"Well, as you are a quite difficult one to sort out, we could put your sensitivity to a small test. What do you say, hmm?"

Severus shrugged. "Sure... What do I do?"

"First, you just close your eyes and try to free your mind and instincts. You should be able to feel a pull in the direction of a wand that is best suited to you. Just walk towards it until you can reach it."

Severus nodded and closed his eyes. At first he did not feel anything. Then he sensed it, A weak pull. Some kind of familiarity. He took tentative steps towards it. All the while the shopkeeper followed him silently.

From the moment, he finally touched the wood of the wand, Severus knew what Lily had meant years ago when she had described the feeling of getting her own wand. _This was home._ He opened his eyes and felt a wave of golden light silently embrace himself.

Even the old wand maker looked moved. "Oh, so... Not yew or cedar but juniper. One of my father´s work. Core from phoenix tail feather " He was silent for a moment. "Juniper is a tree which grows even on the barren lands. It is very resistant to freezing temperatures and wind. Its leaves are prickly and its berries bitter", he said as if talking out an old memory. "These wands usually choose people, who have hard lives, but are nevertheless very resilient and determined. When paired with the right wizard and used with determination juniper wand performs many kinds of magic without difficulty. Perhaps a bit surprisingly it usually excels in healing."

Severus only half listened the mumbling of the weird man. He was mesmerized by the humming power of his wand. It was warm in his fingers and felt amazing... Like he never wanted to let go of it.

"My father always said that they are wands for harsh times. He said that the juniper grows stronger to meet the challenge. I don´t know how much of that is true, but a good friend of mine was once chosen by a juniper wand. She was the most determined person I have ever met."

Mr. Ollivander sighed in deep thoughts. "I always thought that she would refuse to die before reaching her goals, even if killed. The old legends say that in the end of an era, smoke of a burning juniper cleanses, blesses, and protects the household and its inhabitants. 'Juniper burns and the world turns', it is said..."

Then he looked to the Severus. "Don´t worry about it." The old wand maker smiled somewhat sadly. "After all... The wand does not make one´s destiny. Like a good friend, it can only make it a little easier to bear..."


End file.
